My Kind Of Hero
by DismalOrc29177
Summary: Team Possible was never formed, yet Kim and Ron stood forth, each with their own codes, morals and upbringings. Being two sides of the same coin, both will learn that justice exists in more ways than one. (Don't like, don't read).
1. Hello Middleton, Time for A Fresh Start

**What's going on everyone, its Dismal again. After Break Away, I decided to write another KP storyline, if you read the summary, thank you. But here's a deeper part of this, I was inspired by several shows and readings to make something like this. So this would revolve around Kim and Ron, they might be a future pairing, that's what I'm aiming for, also to not make one or the other look like a villain. I want to make this deep, I don't know if this will be a series, but I'll see what I can do, so for now, here's the first chapter. Don't forget to read and review.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Kim Possible, it is owned by its respective companies.**

* * *

Chapter 1: Hello Middleton, Time For A Fresh Start

Another day on the job, that's what's normally said, or thought. A mission had to be assigned especially at a night like this. A cold breeze dare to kiss, or rather bite at the skin. A suspicious gathering of criminals are to be taken place at an abandoned apartment complex. What they had in common: they work for Jack Hench.

The operative found the complex, cracked walls and grown vegetation exposed in its windows. Dim lights which only promoted its lucid appearance. With a front flip that placed on the roof opposite of the target building, she exhales a breath of air, the weather being cold enough for it to be seen by the naked eye.

"What's the sitch, Wade?" She says. Her fingers had already pressed the button on the device. Her cracked fingertips traced the edges of her device. A strong yet shaking grip from the chilly winds possessed her.

Finishing a sip from his soda, the tech geek cleared his throat. "So far, there's no surveillance in there, so I can't really tell how many are inside." He concludes. The keyboard made a clicking noise as fingertips traversed upon it.

She remains unfazed. She's done missions like these on her own for a long time. Years of training, years on the battlefield equals years of experience. "Ok. Let's test out the drone." Her wristwatch contained the control necessary to pilot the controls. As the flying machine zipped through the air and infiltrated the compound. Lights were on, placed at the center, allowing the creeping shadows of the dark to pour at the edges.

She takes the while to look around. "Ok let's take a look… shouldn't be too hard." She mumbles to herself. Two cars, indicating the common meeting, a buyer and supplier. Two guards defending each party. A total of six guys waiting to be thrown in prison. "This should be easy." She stretched her neck from side to side, preparing to go in. A deep breath came in and out of her lungs, eyes closing, then opening.

She shot her rappel towards the enemy building. With a front flip, she crashes into the window and quickly falls to land on one guy. The other five became startled. "Aw shit!" One of them yelled. Before one man could charge her. She shot her rappel at his shoulder, yanked him towards her and delivered a spinning hook kick, sending him staggering to the ground. As he lies on the ground, she delivers an axe kick to the temple of his skull, knocking him out cold.

The closest man she saw, ruffling his jacket, meaning he's underestimating her, thinking she's just another person looking for attention, or to commit suicide in a horrible manner, whatever the case was, he didn't know what he was in for. She ran at him, first doing a baseball slide, then hoisting herself up with her right hand behind her. With the rest of her body upfront, her legs in particular, her right leg was providing structural support with her right hand in order to kick the enemy in the head, then moved herself in a good position to do a spinning back kick. With her skills in Tae-Kwon-Do evidently being clear to her enemies, they still fail to realize that it wasn't going to be easy.

As Kim focused on her second opponent, a third man went to try to punch her in the face. Kim quickly turned her attention on him, grabbing the forearm with one hand, as well as chopping him in the throat with the other. She uses her right knee to attack him in the ribs twice. With her free hand she grabs the back of his neck and throws him to the fourth who wanted to tackle her. Leading him to tackle his own comrade or fall beneath him as his own momentum failed him.

The second man attempted to get up. He tried to grab her by the throat, but she bobbed and weaved attacking him with a left hook and a right uppercut. His body had no choice but to press itself against a wall. Kim saw this and she ran towards him jumping and performed a flying knee that cruelly punished his chest with ribs that were subsequently broken or cracked.

The fourth man removes his unconscious friend as he was planted on top of his body. With a groggy body, and blurred vision. He feels a tire iron near his body. He picks it up. He quickly runs in order to smash Kim's face in. But the redhead had a plan for that. She grabs the hand that held the tire iron and elbows him in the face, giving him a bloody nose. She uses a judo hip throw to plant him on the ground. She disarms him from his weapon and strikes him with the tire iron herself, knocking him out. Kim sees the fifth man and throws the tire iron at his face, knocking him out also.

The sixth took this opportunity to run, flee. The deal had failed, five guys taken down by one girl, he didn't want to be added to the list. But a rappel that wrapped itself around his leg and dragged him towards his apparent doom. She grabs his arm and hoists him to his knees. She stretches out his fingers.

All that was heard was the cold air blowing outside. An eerie feeling creeping in the cold room "The explosives, you were selling them to someone, who was it?"

Heavy breathing came from his lips. His hand covering his mouth, masking the pain he was going through. "I dunno, most of them are anonymous… even if I did… he'll kill me." She caught onto his lie, she started to bend the fingers were the victim felt discomfort. "Ghk… gah… ragh…" he groaned.

"Unless you want to deal with me, you'll start talking." Her grip on him hardened causing him to hiss in agony. "J-J-Jack Hench. He supplied with the explosives, you know him right? Anything you want, he'll get it… for the right price. We work for him, just a simple job." He blurts out. His eyes widening in fear, his body trembling before her.

"Just a simple job, huh? Who's the buyer then?" She questions again.

"Those guys, t-t-the ones you knocked out." The sound of his voice, he was cowering, but he was still lying. Kim stomped on his ankle and knees him in the face. She then places him in a headlock. "I know you're lying, there's someone else. I want to know who."

"Drakken. Dr Drakken, OK. Needs it for some operation, he had the money but, I don't think he was… too happy about it." He says. "Who?" She snarls at him.

"Jack… always had his eye on other criminals. Didn't like Drakken's record I guess. Even tried to scam him once, I don't think he let it go." She kicks him in the calf. Making him kneel and pressing his face toward the concrete.

"HenchCo… what do they supply in?" She asks.

"Weapons, muscle… stuff that his clients need. He's like one of the backbones in organized crime. He knows how to cover shit up. Use his 'investments' for other purposes. I swear, this is all I know!" His eyes begin to water.

She got closer to him, making him shake more. She whispers in his ear. "Good enough for me." A well placed punch that knocks him out cold.

A sigh comes from her lips as she uses her rappel to escape the building. Zipping through the air and heading towards her home. She arrives at the front door, her hand twisting the cold knob as a creak came from the door, showing a barely lit house.

'Maybe they all went into their bedrooms.' Kim thought. She closes the door silently and locks the door. She quietly walks up to the stairs and into her room, not wanting to disturb her parents or the Tweebs for that matter.

She enters her room and walks to the lamp and flicks it on. She flops onto the bed. A huff coming from the next breath she springs up to grab a little purple book sitting on her nightstand. With the guidance of a delicate bookmark, she turns to a page and writes down the date.

' _Another mission done, thank goodness. When the director called me on a mission to break some sort of deal, I was almost ready to suck my teeth at her. Ok, maybe I was a bit annoyed, but it was probably poor timing. Been trying to get Jack Hench behind bars for months, but everyone thinks he's some sort of savvy businessman. Can't believe some people are kissing up to him, he's a crook, plain and simple. I'm probably annoyed because it's so… repetitive. Done this for the director for a while an, I'm probably itching for some new action… I still fight Drakken and Shego and everyone else. Tomorrow, I have to make sure cheerleading tryouts go well and be ready for another mission. The one thing I wish for right now, is for some new crazy excitement to enter my life_.'

' _Feeling: Hopeful_ '

As Kim closes the book, she moves a lock of her red hair away from her hair and places it under her pillow. The redhead released a breath and fell into blissful rest. Whatever awaited the redhead within the morning, she'll calculate what she needs to do by then.

* * *

Middleton Airport:

A lady on the P.A announcing the next flights, the waves of people distinctively talking upon one another as one boy traversed from the crowds. Hands in his pocket, the look of an innocent young man, with a sense of nostalgia and fresh cold air filling his lungs.

'I can't believe it… I'm really back home.' He said as he takes an escalator down to the lobby, well before getting a backpack and a suitcase. A vibration coming from his pocket, he reaches to it and pulls out his phone. He sees a number that wasn't on his contact list. He takes the call.

"Hello?" He asks. "Yeah, I can't believe I'm here." The caller obviously asked him about Middleton, with his reaction calm, but wandering. "So you're the contact, then?" He asks. "I don't suppose you have a place for me to crash or something to do right?" He patiently waits for the response. "Ok, we'll meet there, then. See you soon."

He leaves the airport and waves his hand, while doing a little whistle. "Taxi!" He says. As he goes into the backseat, he gives the driver the address.

"So… you new here?" He asks in a gruff voice.

"No…" he says with a sigh while tapping his knees with his hands. Playing an invisible drum beat to his ears. "I was actually born here, actually left to study for a bit. Came back to finish it off."

"So you a college student, boy?" He asks.

"Nope. High School." He rotated his shoulders and tilted his neck from side to side.

"Did your parents ship you off to boarding school or something?" He says while looking at the rear view mirror that showed the blonde's reflection.

He curled his lips and nodded his head. "Pretty much yeah."

As the conversation kept on, the car had stopped to its destination. Ron paid the man and a tip for his convenience. Walking into the neatly furnished and freshly painted shop, he sees an old man with a notebook, looking at his inventory, possibly taking note. He looks at the blonde boy.

"Sorry, we're closed." He said as he continued to sweep the floor. The man had then seen the boy flash some sort of silver necklace, resembling a small pointed shuriken with six points and a small hole in the center. Seeing it resting on the palm of his hand made him realize who he was.

"So you were the one on the phone, then?" The old man stops sweeping the floor, his palms resting on the tip of the broom.

The boy nodded his head. "They said you have some supplies I was suppose to get, y'know… for hunting." Catching onto his use of words, he nodded his head. He walks to a wall and embeds a small piece of silver in one of the decorations that looked to be a ninja star with a part chipped off. Once attached, he twisted the star, making a sound of something being unlocked. The wall was actually a door. Twisting to the left, it reveals a room hidden from the public.

Designated weapons were inside. From shuriken, kunai, katana, crossbow bolts, smoke bombs, and many more. On a clipping board are photos of many villains. He took a glance at each photo and smiled.

"Hmm, colorful." He comments. "So these are pretty much the bad guys?" He places his hands in his pocket as the man comes out with a large backpack containing something for him.

"You'd be surprised. Take a good long look and you see an idiot wearing a skirt with a golf addiction, a dumbass scientist who's blue - I'm actually surprise that he is one first of all, and an old man whose son is a sissy and who's name you can't even say three times fast."

To think these people were just normal criminals coming in. Placing a thumb on his chin, he examines the photos a little more.

"And this one…" the old man flicks a photo onto the desk. "… is gonna stick her head where it doesn't belong." A picture of a certain redhead caught his attention. Grabbing the bag, the young one sets off.

"Might wanna thank some people for keeping that roof over your head. It's waiting for you." Letting the young one set off into the night with the bag. Sounds of cars driving from afar followed with the sights of street lamps lighting the path he walked. To his left, he saw a fast food restaurant that he remembered for a long time.

"Bueno Nacho?" He says smiling. 'Takes me back.' As he walks to the entrance, he doesn't see it stacked with people. But there were three people at the counter. The only thing he could think about… 'What are they wearing?'

As he opens the door, he could see those three people conversing… or rather harassing a geeky, timid looking guy, praying that the counter would shield him from these ruffians.

"Now then, do I have to come and collect right now, or do I have to make you regret it, either way, it's your call!" The guy said. He was accompanied by two girls, one had covered herself with a hoodie and the other had a purse slung over her shoulder.

"Look! W-w-we don't have enough! Just give us until tomorrow… I swear, I-I swear we'll have it by then!" The person stammered, gripped by the thresholds of fear, with cold shivers making him stay in place. With a scratch in the back of his head. The boy decided to intervene.

"Hahaha, and I thought I've seen it all!" He laughs at the trio. "Out of all the fashion statements I've seen, you three are the most ridiculous! What look are you going with, the hipster, retro reject look, or the knock-off look!" He chuckles again. Having newfound humor at his expense.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, dude!" The guy behind the counter says. "These are people you do not wanna mess-" He stopped in mid-sentence as one of the girls gave him a death glare. He shut himself up after that.

"Fuck off boy! You better stay out of other people's business!" Normally people probably would yell at the man saying something like that. But for the blonde boy. He laughs.

"Haha, ok lemme get this right… when someone with a bad taste of clothes with some failing harem or whatever talks to me like that…" he stopped laughing and gave a cold glance that increased the tension already present in the area. "That is something I'm not gonna let slide." He takes off his backpack, but not before slipping on some gloves. "So I'm gonna give you this one… you can walk away and forget about this… or you can stay, and I get to break all those bones in your body… either way, I'm gonna enjoy this."

They scoffed at the teenage boy, so oblivious to the madness he freely started. They walked towards him. He twisted his neck side to side.

The blonde boy ran at the three. He jumped up on the table to gain higher ground. He lunged at the big guy. Using him like a support beam, he kicks the girl with the purse, knocking her shades off. Ron landed on the ground before the man, but he was losing his balance. With a foot resting on his rib. The teen pushed the man in mid air and allowed him to fall on the ground.

Quickly he arose to see the girl in the hoodie run and try a push kick. He pushed it down while hitting moving to the side to hit her in the mouth with his elbow, but she weaved to the left, dodging the attack, but leaving her open to a back fist from the same hand. She used her left hand to strike him. But he grabbed it, and with a quick uppercut to the jaw, he threw her to one of his other adversaries, crashing him to the ground.

Moving to the side with a side, he smiles. "I believe this earned me a BOOYAH! Hahaha, so really are you three that bad, you really can't be. Well maybe that chick…" he pointed with his thumb up and his index and middle finger targeting the girl in the hoodie. "… can make up for it, but still though… oh wait, I never got your names."

"Big guy is Chino, short black hair is Espadrille, and the one in the hood is Hoodie." The boy behind the counter blurted out. The three had then shot him a death glare.

"Hey look, he's the least of your worries… ok…" His happiness transitioned into a serious tone. "So let's get back to it." He charges at the three. He starts with Chino. A right jab, following with a left uppercut and left hook. Chino attempted to hit the blonde boy but he redirected the attack onto Espadrille, he jumps up to kick her in the head with placing an elbow into his skull.

Hoodie dug her knee into the blonde boy's stomach, she takes control of the back of his head. As she attempts to hit him again with another knee, the blonde boy caught the knee and lifts her up in the air and slams her to the ground, leaving a sickening sound of flesh slapping onto the ground as the bone, muscle and nerves react to the immobilizing pain.

He then moves and twists his body 360 degrees while keeping his body horizontal and kicks Espadrille, grabbing her arm and standing her up, and stomps on the side of her knee, effectively breaking it, the sounds of her screams filled the area as that nauseating crunch of a bone makes its unwanted sound. He then breaks her wrist and head butts her, knocking her out cold.

Chino attempted to attack him from behind, with an overhead punch to the back of his head, he dodged it and kicked him on the leg. The blonde boy punched him in the ribs twice, yet he sees a punch coming from his right. He curled his fingers on the attacking arm, punched him right on the throat, jumped up on his knees and wrapped his legs on his arm. With enough strength, he used enough pressure to dislocate his shoulder. Chino falls to his knees, Ron flipped off of him and takes his hand and breaks four of his fingers. After breaking one of his enemies arm out of commission, the blonde boy rolls towards Hoodie.

He mounts her, grabbing a fistful of her hoodie by the torso. He could see by the quivering of her lips, that she was in complete fear. He then got close to her face and whispered in her ear.

"The next time I see you…" he then grabs her throat, leaving a squeak underneath her breath, not indicating sexual sensitivity, but terror. "I'll make it worse."

Hoodie got her comrades as they hastily yet poorly fled from the restaurant, not attempting to look back or say anything else. Whoever that boy was he may have fought somewhat like Kim, but he took it a step further.

He then grabs his backpack. "Hey, they're gone… you can come out now." The boy stood up and uncovered his face.

"Hey thanks. Those guys always come here and try to extort this place. Protection, they said! Most of this stuff comes outta my paycheck though!" He releases his pent up frustration and anger through his words.

"Always come?" The blonde says. "Isn't there someone who usually helps? Why not go to the police?" He says.

"You think I haven't tried?! Not the police, not even Kim Possible can stop this… for good I mean!" He sighs and cleans his glasses.

"Sorry, about that. Name's Ned, I work here."

Taking a seat on the stool, and slinging his bag on his back, he introduces himself. "I'm Ron. Ron Stoppable."

"Hey, thanks again for dealing with them, is there at least something I can do for you?" He expressed his gratitude to Ron, now he was able to breathe easier.

"Well… I'd like to place an order."


	2. New Kid on The Block

Chapter 2: New Kid on The Block

Another night, spent and used up. The sun rising in the dawn, marking another day. With an alarm beeping and a radio station playing, it couldn't be helped that it was time… time to wake up and head for another day at school.

In an effeminate and highly decorated room, rose a redheaded hero. She rubs the back of her head, yawning, stretching, curling her toes as they lightly touched the floor. She mustered the strength of her own two feet. She appropriated herself as music filled the room.

 **"Wish we could switch up the roles and I could be that."**

 **"Tell you I love you, but when you call, I never get back."**

She turned off her radio and rushed downstairs. The smell of a perfectly made breakfast waft through the house. Kim sees her mother making a wonderful meal as her father reads the newspaper while her twin brothers talk amongst themselves.

She was hoping that Wade would give her another mission today, maybe somewhere during school. Technically for her, it means early dismissal. She was ready for today, cheery and energetic.

* * *

On another place rose a blonde boy whom awoke just the same as Kim. Eyes that showed indifference, yet determination. After unpacking his things from last night, it was only fair that he had to collapse on his old bed, at his parents home. Pinching his nose, he placed on his clothes as the radio was turned on, for the sake of steeling him for another day.

" ** _I'm sick of the tension, sick of the hunger, sick of you acting like I owe you this._** "

" ** _Find another place to feed your greed, while I find a place to rest_**."

It was surprising to him that his home was well maintained after his absence for years. One of the things he's learned from his travels are that friends are important, and those 'friends' he has, happened to be in high places. Whether publicly or within the shadows.

With an adjustment of his collar, revealing a necklace, shaped like a small shuriken. He walks downstairs to grab a small breakfast before he leaves. Someone had left him a note, containing a roster with room numbers. The school: Middleton High, home of the Middleton Mad Dogs.

He sets off, but not before looking at the photo hanging on the stand, it was him, when he was younger, more vibrant, more alive. Next to him, side by side, were his parents. His hand lightly touched the photo, as he let out a sigh. Before his mind could slip back into the warm confines of the past, he opens the door, shakes his head and hurries to the school.

* * *

Walking toward the school seems normal. Approaching the grounds caused a redheaded hero to give out a quick yawn. She was able to head inside and was greeted by her longtime friend.

"Hey Kim, H.A.Y.G (How Are Ya Girlfriend)? She says to the redhead. As Kim stops to meet her, she answers.

"Aw Monique, it's no big. GJ got me doing all these jobs. You'd be surprised how easy it's been y'know." Kim rubs the back of her head.

"Ugh! Girl trust me, there's gonna be something new for you soon. Don't be letting your guard down, considering something can happen out of the blue." She pats her shoulder, as a sign of reassurance.

"Speaking of new, there's a little something in the ol' RM (Rumor Mill)." Monique says, the fashionista's ability to obtain information was almost questionable.

"What? About this new student? C'mon girl…" Kim waves her hand off of the situation.

"What girl, I'm just saying." Monique says within Kim's mid sentence.

"It's just another new guy, it shouldn't be that big of a deal." Kim smiles at this.

"Oooh, Kim. So you know he's a guy, now if I remember correctly, you got a little thing for…"

"Josh Mankey!" The girls said in unison, as they squeal and glee with excitement.

"Look, I'm going to try to ask him out…" Monique heard the words and gave a look that held disbelief. Kim saw this and continued her sentence. "… this time. Look it was just that one time."

"W.Y.C (Where You Choked). K.P, lemme tell you, you just froze…" she snaps her fingers. "… just like that."

"Please, I can ask him out, it's so not the drama. Watch, I'll ask him right now."

"Sorry girl, can't- gotta head to class." Monique said as she walked off. She had her doubts about Kim scoring that date, but she also had doubts about her coming back in one piece when she went on missions the first place, but boy was she proved wrong. Her girl can handle herself!

Mired in her thoughts she couldn't see the blonde boy she bumped into. "Gah! Son of a bitch!" He says, without a rise of his voice. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to…" books were scattered and papers coated the floor.

"No, I'm sorry, that was all me and…" she takes a look at the boy and sees that he's an unfamiliar face… albeit a pretty nice one.

"Uh… yeah. My name's Ron, the thing is I'm kinda…" he offered his hand once they both got their books together.

"You're the new guy we got. I'm Monique. Word of advice, you won't be picking up ladies, if you're clumsy like that." She jokes with an added smile.

"Pretty sure it got your attention…" He mumbles. He gets up and spots something, her lanyard with tucked away at one of the books and it had something suspiciously interesting.

"True, but I don't think saying 'Son of A Bitch' will make a good impression. She says with her books finally back in her arms again. Smirking at Ron, maybe not at his vulgarity, but maybe his… elusive nature.

"Hey, uhh, when we ah, bumped… I couldn't help but notice something… you a fan of G.W.A?" He leaned to the wall, making a conversation with her.

"Well, I might be… if someone keeps it on the D.L." She remarks. He could only look in confusion at the girl as she said the acronym. "Uhhh…" was the sound the boy made.

"Down-Low." A deep sigh came to her lips. "Yeah, I'm a fan, my older brother introduced me to it."

"Watched it for a long time too. I ahh, been following up with Pain King and Steel Toe's rivalry, I mean that it's so freakin' intense."

"There's always something going on between the two." She walked with Ron to a class.

"Yeah, so look… I dunno where I'm suppose to go on this roster." He shows Monique the sheet of paper.

"Yeah don't worry, I'm going to the same place too." Heading to the same place was enough of a reassurance.

"So you said you're new here, right?"

"Technically, yeah." Ron rubbed his shoulder that carried the books. "I was born here in Middleton, then I went to a boarding school. So I came back to resume it."

Monique raised an eyebrow "And where would this boarding school would be?"

Ron made a smile of his own. "That's a story for another day." They made it to the entry way of the classroom. As he took his seat, he looked to see random people, but no teacher in sight… not yet anyway.

Monique spoke up. "Ok, boy… since it's your first day, I'll give you the run-down on what's the 4-1-1." She placed an arm on his shoulder, acting as a personal tour guide.

"Least I know what that means." He joked.

"Ok listen, try not to freak, but you're going to school with a superhero, and her name is Kim Possible."

"Really?" Ron said. He masked his knowledge upon knowing the redhead's appearance. Of course she lived here in Middleton, the fact is that he didn't know that she went to this school here. True, she had to be somewhere for her education… he didn't expect he was to be assigned to this school.

"Oh yeah big time… believe it or not, I'm her best friend." She says.

"I can believe that, I mean you were talking to her and such." He clearly heard two voices talking to each other while roaming the hallways.

"Then you know she's about to be taken." She says, now she skips the subject. "Listen, you wanna survive, you need to avoid Hall D at all costs, that is where all the crazy people hang out."

"I can take care of myself." He says rotating his shoulders.

Monique notices this subtle, but cocky approach. She didn't want to use 'cocky' as the term to define, but she barely knows him. "A lot of guys say that, some of them can, others can't. I don't really know you, but you seem like a guy, so I guess a little advice wouldn't hurt."

He chuckles at her statement "You don't know the Ron-man much, but give it time, and you'll see." Monique chuckles at his little third-person statement. 'Ron-man'? Either he was egotistical or confident.

Before she could continue the conversation a familiar student walked in. Ron looked at the girl, and then looked back at Monique. To which she just nodded her head. "Yup, that's Kim Possible, the 'girl who can do anything'."

She also walked in with another boy. "That guy, is the guy who's got Kimmie's heart, Josh Mankey, he's an artist." Ron closed his eyes and sighed. He opened them to see a blonde burly guy and a brunette that had this snarky look to her face. The girl, Ron could probably try to tolerate, but the guy was whole different story.

He didn't like the look of him, the cocky smile, the false bravado… he looks as if he runs the world. If he was trying to make an impression that he was a good natured student, then he did a shitty job at it.

"Ok those two…" he could tell that Monique's tone was serious. "Bad news… the girl; Bonnie Rockwaller, queen bee of the school, also first class bitch. The guy; Brick Flagg, quarterback but classic narcissistic jackass." Ron nodded his head in response.

"Our teacher is Mr. Barkin, military type, won't hesitate to throw the book, no-nonsense. The type of teacher you wanna avoid." He didn't walk in yet. But several other students had came in and Monique told the blonde boy about them.

The class bell rang. "Ok people, listen up! As of today, there is a new student among you. Stoppable…" He says his last name causing him to grin nervously. "Stand up, so the students can be familiar with you." Ron sighed under his breath. Placing his palms at his desk, with a blank look on his face. He takes a look at the students, taking a look at the rows of them who were staring back. The blonde boy doesn't know them all yet for certain. There were several things he knew however. One, was that Monique was likable and easy to talk to. He obviously did not like Brick, and this Kim character is this hero. He sat back down, turning his attention towards the teacher and opening his book. When there wasn't notes to take, he would twirl his pen around, fantasizing that it would be an arrow or a drumstick, or maybe a throwing knife.

It was then his ears picked up on an interesting conversation.

"Did you hear about the Fashionistas?"

"No, what happened?"

"Someone said one guy came in and trashed them all, they were beaten and limping away scared man."

"You sure it wasn't that guy who helps out at the place?"

"Ned? No way, it was some other guy, it had to be."

"Who told you this?"

"Some guy who knew them. They were up in Middleton and went to their apartment when he bumped into them."

Ron eavesdropped on the conversation as they described the address. ' _Got 'em now'_ his mind said.

* * *

Class dragged on for a bit until the class bell rung. It felt like new life breathed into the room as both Kim and Ron could finally escape that wretched lecture.

The redhead had walked towards her locker until she heard that familiar tone, ' _Beep beep be-beep_ '. She takes out her Kimmunicator "What's the sitch, Wade?" She asks him.

"It's Dementor's goons, they got some dangerous weapon smuggled into a shipyard and they're taking it to Middleton."

"What are they planning to use it for?" She asked.

"Don't know. But there's been some radio chatter that an attack on a precinct that's holding Dementor, my guess…"

Kim finished his sentence "They're going to break him out. Ok, I'm on it." Kim ran out of the school. ' _This'll definitely be a good change of pace_.' She smiled at her thought, as she was readying herself mentally for battle.

A blonde boy saw the redhead run out of the school. "Probably on a mission." He mumbled to himself. Beating down three thugs extorting protection money was one thing and yet, there was something inside him. A hunger, a lust, a wanting of more.

Ron walks and sees a hall with a labeled letter. 'D' it said. ' _Monique told me to avoid those halls.'_ Apparently he sees one of those denizens walking out, looking for fresh meat to sink his teeth into. Like a rabid animal, he looks around at his bounty of prey, little did he know, there was a wolf in sheep's clothing among them, and he was thirsting for action.

' _Ugh, doesn't he take pride in himself?_ ' He asks himself mentally while shaking his head at this unkempt clown. He looks out at a window until he hears someone taking a long sniff. Forcing him to turn around and see the said clown smiling at him, placing his hand on the wall beside him.

"So you're the new kid?" He said with some sort of false bravado dripping in his tone. A well placed chop to the throat would change all that.

"I might be… what about it?" Ron says without nervousness. Truth be told, humoring this sack of meat is a waste of time. He tried to think of myriad of ways to get him walking away or limping away, maybe have him leave in a body bag. But there's a lot of witnesses, and he was suppose to keep a low profile.

He raises his hands. "Nothing at all, see there's a little thing you're gonna do for me and that is to pay homage…" he rubs his thumb onto his index and middle finger. Then his face got serious and closer to the blonde boy's "… or pay the price. Question is… what's it gonna be?" He then smiled at him, feeling as if he's got the boy intimidated.

Breathing out of his nose, Ron said his piece, while smiling back at him. "Go fuck yourself." He delivers a head butt onto the bully, causing him to stagger back, hold his nose and gain the attention of the people in the hallway. Some blood was spilling out of it. Like a bull ready to strike, he charges at the blonde boy. Ron was able to use the bully's own momentum against him as Ron slams him onto the locker.

The bully removes his hand from his nose, ready to strike. But he didn't predict that the blonde boy would attack first. He stepped forward and did an uppercut to his jaw, following a hook with the same hand. The bully did a shoulder charge which sent Ron staggering back. He rolled toward him and kicked him in the knee causing him to stand on one leg, he balanced himself with one hand and did a hook kick right to his face. He then fell to the ground with the blonde boy rolling away from him.

Quickly the bully rose up, seeing red as this blistering rage consumed him, especially since he's seeing that he's being laughed at and taunted by not just the blonde boy, but the people who were witnessing this. "Hahahaha, c'mon man you can't be that bad, you just can't." He looks back at the students, and points at him and shakes his head. He gets up to punch this boy in his face. But Ron traps the attacking arm, using the lockers as support to run up, he wrapped his legs around the bully's neck horizontally as his weight makes him fall to the ground. Slamming him to the floor. Ron kips up without a problem. The bully gets up as well, but not before a push kick sends him to the ground. Blood came from his nose and flowed down onto his lips, his mouth had blood too, as it traversed down to his chin.

"Just walk away." The blonde boy ordered. He removed the taunting tone to his voice. He turned around to follow the same advice. The bully staggered back up, he sees the corner of the hall and retreated quickly, with small patches of his pride remaining. The hallways flooded with clapping and cheers as they witness such a battle that would be portrayed as such within movies.

He turned to another hallway to see Monique crossing her arms with a smirk. But she was also accompanied with someone else. This guy has his hair slicked back, he dons a basketball jersey and shorts. He smiles along with Monique. " _'I can take care of myself'_ …" she playfully mocked. "… ok I can believe you." She finishes.

"Where did you learn to fight like that man?" Felix asked. "You knew exactly what you were doing."

Ron leaned onto the wall. "Monique, remember when I said that story being for another day." She nods her head. "Well… it was in Japan, and honestly that's all I can say about that."

"Dude, that was rad. You got skills. I'm Felix, Felix Renton." The boy introduced himself.

"I'm Ron Stoppable, uhh… the new guy."

"It's nice to know that there's someone else who can fight like Kim." Felix remarked. Ron said that he was in Japan and he showed that he was capable of handling himself in a fight.

"Speaking of Kim, have you seen her?" Monique asked the blonde boy.

"I think so… she was running off in a hurry. I couldn't make out what she was talking about, but I remember something called Dementor, a doomsday device and a precinct, do you know anything about that?"

"Don't worry, Kim's probably stopping some bad guys, who has a doomsday device to break some guy called Dementor out." Monique answered his question. Yet the name held familiarity…

"Just some bad guy that Kim deals with on a regular basis. There's even crazier people she fights too."

"Well look, I've gotta go, there's probably some juicy rumors going on now." As she walked away from the two boys, Ron had a questioning look on his face.

"Why would some guys steal a doomsday device to break someone outta jail or whatever?" He asked. Getting some big laser that can dominate the world, but they're using it to break a guy out? It doesn't make much sense.

"I'm pretty sure it's a ruse, y'know. Maybe to get Kim focused on one thing, so a bunch of thugs are gonna break him out the old fashioned way." Felix deduced.

"So she's walking into a diversion… but where would the bad guys even go to?"

"If I know anything from Kim's adventures, Dementor's got some warehouse here in Middleton, somewhere west of here. You see a group of cars going into it, you'll know you're in the right place. But trust me when I say that you wouldn't want to be there." Felix told Ron this, but he couldn't tell if it was a warning to stay away, or an encouragement to step in.

"Hey, it was good to meet you, I'll see you around." He walks away with a mission planted firmly in his mind. Find the warehouse, stop the thugs, then deal with the Fashionistas.

Finally arriving at the destination, he sees what Felix was able to describe, a bunch of sedans and SUV's parked at the warehouse. Guys in red uniforms… as if it doesn't scream 'crime syndicate' enough.

With enough time, he placed on an outfit able to conceal his identity. A black Balaclava mask he was endowed with, only the eyes were exposed while wearing it. He wore a black hoodie, with track pants to match. To protect himself in battle, he wore arm sleeves, with elbow pads, wrist protection and tactical gloves. For his footwear was just white sneakers. Two pouches were on each side of his hip, one for shuriken, the other for smoke bombs. His blade, a wakizashi, rested on his back.

He goes to the roof of the building, only to see three people on lookout. One on the other side and two of them are together. ' _Ok, here we go_ '. His thoughts were racing as he took a deep breath. He takes his blade out and rises from the shadows he slashes the man in front right onto the throat. He sees the two others, nearly about to look the other way, he throws a shuriken that lodges itself into his head. This caused the one man to look at his partner as he recoils to the ground with a piece of metal making him bleed. He turns to see a figure lunge at him and stab him right in the chest, marking him as another dead man.

Ron grabs the shuriken from the victims head and sees a window open. Entering in he sees the bad guys, some grouped together, some just walking around.

 _'It's time to get to work.'_


	3. Settling in Contested Territory

Chapter 3: Settling In Contested Territory

When it came down to picking them off one by one, it took precision, timing and patience. If any of them were startled, then they'd be driving away in their cars, forcing the fight to be on the road… if the blonde boy manages to successfully chase them.

He sees one of the guards far away from position. As he stalks him from higher ground, Ron stands on the ledge. Before the man could register his shadow in front of him, the ninja quickly lunges at the man and stabs him in the head. He rolls away and takes cover behind a wall. He takes a kunai knife from his pouch, with a twirl, he sees that a guy was in front of him looking the other way. With a quick throw it hit its mark on the back, causing him to fall down, making a sound that indicated impact.

"What was that?" One of the guards said. Before they could spread out something small fell between them, it was then a large cloud of smoke engulfed all of them. Lines of sight broken, arms covering the eyes, the body expelling the smoke from their lungs with coughing. They were all vulnerable and open to strike. "It's… Kim Possible!" One of them said through shagged breaths.

In some sort of response, one man jerked his body to move upwards, his head pointed at the ceiling with his eyes dimming. His mouth was then filled with blood as he looked down to see a blade piercing his chest. A second man was finding his way through the smoke as he felt a slash on his calf, causing to fall on his knee, with the feeling of cold steel slicing at the throat. The smoke was becoming less dense, it was only a matter of time before it dissipates, revealing his location. Ron throws two shuriken, hitting each guy. It was then he felt a force knock him towards the car. He turns around to see a guy holding a pipe as a blunt weapon.

Ron rolls onto the car, as his enemy swings the pipe, smashing the windshield and letting glass fly everywhere. The blonde boy vaults over the guy and does a push kick, he hit the car, but fell to the ground. He got up to swing at him again, only to be blocked by his sword.

The guard looked as if he was pushing the boy back, he was about to smash this across his face until he jumped, spun and back kicked him. He was about to hit the boy right on his shoulder, but it was blocked… but it got Ron on one knee. The attack was redirected to the side and the ninja kicked him in the shin, then the side of his head and felt the hilt of the blade hit him. They both got up, the guard threw away the pipe and clenched his fists. Ron seeing his challenge, swipes his blade and then sheathes it.

Ron sees the guy start with a left punch which was parried, a right punch that was dodged, he tucked his head and tackled the blonde ninja. Ron knees him in the gut, folds his hands and brings it down to his back, all the while regaining his footing and using the guy's momentum to throw him down.

He stumbles back up to see Ron kick him in the skull to push him down. The thug rolls away only to feel a knee hit his jaw, a hand grabbing his arm as he was punched in the cheek and chopped right on the throat. He then hoisted the enemy up and the blonde boy threw him to the ground, taking out his sword and placing the tip on his neck.

"You're gonna tell me what I need to know, and if I think you're lying, I'll do this…" Ron then stabs a shuriken on the guy's foot, having him scream in pain, while thrashing about the ground, heavily breathing. "Your little boss has a doomsday device, where is it?" Ron partially overheard the conversation with Kim and Wade, to make sure he isn't going to lie on future questions, this will be a little test.

"I-I don't know!" He stammered. "I swear I'm just here for a jo-AHHH!" He screams as the shuriken is taken out of his foot and then embedded into his ankle.

"Ehhh, wrong!" Ron said. "It's in a shipyard after being smuggled here in Middleton, so now you lied to me the first time. That means I'm not gonna let that slide."

"You're not gonna kill me, you can't!" It was then Ron grabbed his head and showed him the fresh corpses of his companions as his eyes looked in such shock as this nightmarish reality dared to set in.

"See I'm not Kim Possible… so you might wanna rethink the answer and…" he rotates his hand counterclockwise to add on to the situation.

"It isn't for Dementor, it's for the guy that supplies him, he supplies everyone in this line of work. It was just a delivery for Henchco."

Ron narrowed his eyes to check outside, then glared at the man beneath him. "Give me his name." Ron twisted the shuriken a little more, causing the man to wince in pain.

"Hench. Jack Hench. The device was suppose to be a delivery run. It was shipped overseas, now its in transit by road. That- that's it."

Thinking about it, Kim was going to intercept the shipment, right? He did stop a prison break, and he had something else to take care of, while the sun is still up and it would be awhile before it sets. May as well call it a day.

"Appreciate the help." He lets go of the guy who quickly got up to limp towards the vigilante, only to meet a shuriken right onto the chest, causing him to fall down. He takes to the roofs and runs from the scene as the sounds of sirens were making its way towards the warehouse as he was in a good distance change back into his everyday outfit.

"Being a ninja is one thing, but it's so much better when I do it at night." Ron muffles as he removes his vigilante outfit. Maybe that Kim person stopped the shipment already.

* * *

"Go! Go! GO!" Was the words that several guys said as they had the shipment stashed in the truck, as they were quickly driving away.

"What happened to them?" One guy says.

"Kim got to 'em, we need to move!" Heavy breaths ensued as they sped off of the dock and went for the roads. It then led to an open road with horns blaring and cars swerving away from the truck. The passenger sighed as he leaned back, relieved that the redhead lost them. But a head peaked upside down and looked at him. It was Kim Possible, on top of the truck.

"Ah!" He jumped from his chair. The driver had tried to move side to side to get her off, maybe turn her into roadkill. She kicked the side of the passenger window, breaking it and letting shards of glass spill onto his lap. She grabbed him, then with a punch to his face and tying his hands together, she threw him towards a lamppost where he dangled, she hops into the car in an effort to use the brakes. With the driver wrestling her and trying to maintain control of the vehicle, he did poorly. For when was about to make a left turn, Kim elbowed him right on the cheek. Her foot stomped on the brakes as they came to a complete stop, blocking the road on one way. The drivers head then struck the wheel, rendering him unconscious. Kim dragged the thief out of the truck and tied him up for the police. Luckily for those about to be a part of a newly formed traffic delay, they were already swarming the scene.

She had then left the authorities to do the rest of the work, she then hears her Kimmunicator go off, resting on a roof, she is then reached by Wade.

"Everything ok, Wade?" She asked him. Whether there was another mission at the ready, she would launch herself straight into action… with a sip of his soda he had spoken to her.

"Yeah, so far there's nothing going on right now. Guess we can chalk it up as another job done. Might as well take the rest of the day off while we're at it."

Kim looked at Wade and smiled. "Yeah, I guess you're right. We've earned this." With the ending of that transmission, she was about to jump off the roof until she heard a muffled sound, coming from her stomach. She holds it gently with her hand.

'Maybe I should get something to eat.' With that thought in her head, she decides to head to the closest place that can satisfy her hunger.

Bueno Nacho. It was right there. Go in, get a salad, maybe talk to some friends and leave. Luckily she saw her best girl friend there… but something felt off.

Monique was with someone, they were smiling and laughing. Taking a minute to register who this person was… she remembered something. That guy was the new student. What was his name… John, Tom, Don? Maybe she'll introduce herself, because she felt a little guilt for ignoring the guy.

She walks into the fast food place and sees that everything had a lighter atmosphere than before. More people being here is one thing, but then she sees the guy working there, Ned. First he was a nervous wreck because some people were extorting him at the restaurant, now he looks as if he's… enjoying the day.

"Hey, Kim! Over here girl!" Monique said. It was then Kim saw the blonde boy smile at her and giving her the peace sign. As she walked closer, Monique spoke to her. "Listen, this new guy, Ron. He is outta pocket!" She said smiling. "Tell her what you did, Kimmie, trust me, you're gonna love this."

Ron was his name, then? Least that covers the name question, but what did he do?

"Ok, this guy. I don't even know him. He comes up to me, threatening me for money. So I say to him 'go fuck yourself' and fought. He wanted to fight, he got one… but he got the worst of it."

"Kim, you see him fight, it'd be like something S.O.O.A.M. (Straight Out Of A Movie) I mean, it was amazing." Kim sat down next to Monique, clearly enraptured by Ron's actions. "Tell Kim what you did after." Ron shrugged off the acronym he knew nothing about and continued.

"Ok, so after the whole beat down. His pride was shot. Like, it's over, you lost. I tell him to just walk away and he does, holding his mouth and holding back tears. I walk away and everyone is suddenly clapping."

"Wow, so you can fight?" Kim asks Ron. If Monique was right about him being this skilled fighter, then maybe his skills can be put to good use, other than fighting common bullies.

Ron looks attentively at the redhead. ' _If I completely agree to what Monique says, that means that Kim might become suspicious of me soon. A vigilante showing up at the same time I show up, that doesn't just say 'coincidence'. Especially if they can both fight. But, if she hasn't learned of the murders at the docks…_ ' Ron studied her face, he came to a conclusion that relaxed him.

' _She looks calm and relaxed, that means she hasn't learned about it yet. Phew. Ok, the Ron-man can get outta this, it's a piece of cake_.'

"Well it was just one guy… and I can take care of myself. It's just self defense y'know."

"Oh! So you know some self defense…" Kim asks.

"You know some moves right? I mean everyone knows you're the hero around." Maybe redirecting some attention to her can smoothen things out. ' _Maybe I'm acting a little paranoid… opening up a little wouldn't kill me_.' 

"I know about sixteen styles. Maybe I can show you some… if you want." She then sees Ned walk up to them, maybe to compliment Kim or Monique, or make small conversation towards them. But she actually sees him give a combo with a medium soda to Ron. She looks at the cup and sees Ron smiling.

"Here you are Ron, compliments from the manager himself." He says. Kim registered this calmly, a free meal? But he's new here, maybe it's a first time thing?

"Hey Ned, how did Ron get a free meal from the manager?" She asks. Her curious mind shifted towards the matter. It wouldn't hurt to know, right?

Ron looks at Ned, in patience to see what he was gonna say. Hopefully he won't say that he beat up a couple thugs for them.

"Yeah, he's been in a greater mood, on top of the usual. They actually made another Bueno Nacho chain in another city. Since he's the new guy around… he thought it would be nice to do something generous for a change, that's why we did a little discount for everyone tonight." He points to the menu bar to see the prices cut down a bit. Before the redhead could go any further, she was stopped immediately.

"OMG Kim, guess who just walked in?" Monique said as she showed the redhead, the one whose affections she's been pining for. Ron looks as well, to see what all the squealing is about and to hide his annoyance.

They both talked among themselves as Ron stood up and shimmied away. He made his way towards this character Josh Monkey or whatever his name was. He leans onto the counter with Josh next to him. It was then he spoke.

"All right look, we don't know each other but let's start off with something obvious, there's a girl wanting to ask you out and she's being all shy about it."

"Really? Who?" He turns to look at Ron.

"Don't look at me, face forward…" he commanded, to which he reluctantly looked at the menu. "It's Kim, the redhead. Some sorta hero, I mean c'mon she has the hots for you."

"How do I know you're telling me the truth and you're not pranking me or something? Because if this is a joke…" Ron interrupted Josh, unfazed by his upcoming threat.

"Take a look at this and see how Red is looking at you right now." He gave him his phone which was able to give a dark reflection. With a squint of his eyes he could see the love struck look in her eyes, making him blush madly. Ron noticed this easily.

"You two don't even need to be shy around each other, go for it."

"Yeah but, what do I do?" Josh asks. With a lack of confidence. "I don't wanna come off too strong, you know what I mean?"

"Walk in the park. Simple enough, if there isn't so much people. Talk, get to know each other. See where it takes you." Ron pats the artist on his shoulders.

With an instilled sense of courage, Josh walks towards Kim. With them both giving out light chuckles. The blonde looks attentively as both the redhead and the artist had ogled each other. After a while, Kim gets up from her chair and walks with Josh, ready to go on their first sub-par date.

Monique looked at Ron with an obvious look in her eyes, indicating that she knew what he did. With a smile of his own, he gave her an answer. "They both needed a push, someone needed to make a first move… it had to happen."

"Looking out for Kim, ok… but there's a little problem." She taps her fingers on the table and smiles at Ron. "Since Kim and Josh went out together, you know where that leaves me, right?"

"Oh yeah, the third wheel. Hehe sorry." Ron says. He didn't think of the repercussions that he may or may not have caused. Looks like since the two of them were technically alone, maybe being together friend-wise, can make up for it.

"Listen G.W.A is coming on tomorrow and it would be pretty nice if someone watched it with me. I'd ask Kim, but she doesn't like that stuff and she'll be on another date. So that's where you come in." She poked Ron's nose.

"So you wanna invite me over to your house, to watch wrestling and maybe wrestle you to the ground?"

She giggled at his suggestive comment. "You can try."

"Well, sure… I guess we could…" before Ron could continue, his phone vibrates and reminds him of a task he needed to take care of. His lips curled at it's memory. The boy had sighed and got up from the booth. "I'm sorry, I have to go… there's something I'm suppose to do."

Monique hid her disappointment. "Aww really, you're gonna leave me hanging?" She then made a pouty face at Ron, where he could've driven himself to stay with a new friend a little longer, but he mentally steeled himself for his departure.

"Don't worry, we're still gonna be on for G.W.A, I promise." He grabbed his backpack and hoisted it on his shoulders.

"Fine by me. Just H.M.U when you're done." When Monique said her piece, Ron tilted his head in confusion. 'What did she mean by that?' His mind spoke, until it was answered for him. "Hit me up."

"Yeah ah hehe, sure I'll do that." He rushed outside and traversed somewhere he remembered hearing about. Somehow, a pang of guilt lingered in his system as he couldn't hold off on it for a little while just for Monique. She seems pretty cool and it's nice to have friends around. Still, he was on a mission and sometimes… the things that have to be done require some amount of sacrifices.

* * *

Kim had finally arrived home in order to get some rest. After having that small date with Josh, her life felt just a bit more satisfying. First she was nervous around him, especially when the redhead attempted to ask him out. The end result: she stumbles on her words and makes herself look silly.

But she didn't set herself up with Josh, it was that new guy Monique was hanging out with. His name was… Ron. With that memory instilled in her, she thought the blonde guy was going to embarrass her in front of her crush, making her face flush red at the thought. But he didn't, he actually set the two of them up. She didn't want to set him on a pedestal, but she was… no she is grateful for what Ron did for her. But there was one little concern.

She didn't even thank him for what happened. Not a thumbs up or a smile his way. Well… not yet, but the redhead was going to remedy that. Ron was new here, so it was only fair that she did something in return, she didn't know what… but she'll get there.

Even so, the night wouldn't be described magical because of it being an overused term. Words that would come up for it would be; 'comfortable', 'giddy' and 'natural'. She didn't see anything destroying this night… or so she thought.

A call came from her Kimmunicator. Wade contacted her and he looked seriously uneasy. It was as if he saw something so horrible, that he would do anything to unsee it. Kim saw this and quickly worried for her friend.

"Hey Wade. Is everything ok? You don't look so good." She sat up to brace herself for whatever news he had. A look like that on his face, was enough to make her concerned.

"No." Wade started. His eyes were glued onto something, images perhaps. "You… you really need to see this." He placed the file on her screen and she looked in revulsion and dread as her eyes were met with the most unsettling of images.

Men… thieves who were obviously involved in criminal activity, found murdered near a warehouse. All of their lives… taken. She's never seen someone do something so extreme in the name of their own grandeur justice. Who could've done this, why did they do it? More importantly where are they right now?

"All of them… killed Kim. No one was able to find any leads or clues. But the one thing we know from them is that they were planning to bust Dementor outta jail, while you were busy elsewhere."

Kim couldn't say anything. She just stared at the picture and just looked in grievance as something like this happened, in her hometown no less.

"I…I'll call you back, Wade."

Kim sat there as she began to process this. What could've possessed someone to kill them? How far would they go? Why would they do this? More importantly, how could she stop them?

' _Today was a beautiful day… at least for me. Maybe I'm being a little selfish right now but… it was also pretty serious. This new guy Ron, I dunno much about him… but Monique's taken a liking to him. A friend of hers is a friend of mine, I guess. I'm going to thank him soon… but there's something else crossing my mind. The murder of the criminals. I mean they're bad people sure… and something like that was going to happen to them sooner or later. I just didn't think that it would've come like this. Whoever's doing this must be stopped. If Wade got this, so did GJ, maybe the Director will have something for us in the morning. I got a date with the guy I liked and there's a killer out there. I just need to keep my head together on both matters. Doing this whole thing has a simple elegance to it: one step at a time. Right?_ '

Feeling: Messed Up In The Head


	4. Sharks Come Out To Feed

Chapter 4: Sharks Come Out To Feed

Ron arrives at the place where those students were talking about. He already had a goal in hand, yet his thoughts remained elsewhere. For instance, he had to walk out on Monique when Kim did it.

Standing up a friend is pretty much a shitty thing to do. Yet, that's what he did. Well he wouldn't say he stood her up all the way. He did show up, yet he abruptly left. He did say goodbye, so maybe the blow was softened. The first chance meeting does determine some aspect of character. He still wanted to make it up to her.

With his ninja outfit ready, he sneaks into the house by using the window. He looks into a closet and sees a black backpack followed by a considerable amount of cash. He walks towards it and opens the bag, filling it with as much cash in it as the bag can fit. 'Ned has been a victim of their little protection racket, s'only fair if his hard work is paid off.' Before he could hoist the bag over his shoulders, something instinctively told him to turn around. He did, but not before throwing some shuriken behind him. He sees the three of them, the Fashionistas, fixed with angry glares. Casts either absent or nonexistent on their bodies.

"Look at you three." Ron says. "Thought you'd be at a hospital or something, I mean you look terrible."

Chino was about to charge him but Ron vaulted out of the way, having the guy crash into the wall. That probably didn't do good for him, especially with him sustaining a dislocated shoulder and broken fingers. Maybe he relocated the shoulder, but some remnants of pain remained. His face contorting towards such an action is a prime example of that.

"Look, I'm not this girl you people are talking about. This Kim Possible character. I'm a completely different guy, so I'll put this simply; abandon your criminal ways or I'll kill you." He then grips his blade.

"You can go to hell!" Chino said as he pushed himself up. Ron sighed. This meathead was suppose to be some mastermind criminal, but he wasn't listening, or trying to fake it.

"Maybe you need a little persuasion." He takes his blade out and sliced Chino's throat, he fell lifeless to the ground, his blood staining the carpet.

Both Espadrille and Hoodie looked in horror, this guy was a killer, plain as day. Yet the grief, this shattering feeling of losing a partner and possibly friend in front of their eyes, while the killer treats this as a game, if it didn't matter to him.

Espadrille attacked with her purse, she attacked with it three times, missing each time. Yet the fourth time, caused the straps to collide with his blade, and sever in half. She couldn't process what would happen next, as she felt a cut open on her hip, then a stabbing sensation coming from behind her. When she saw her blade, it pierced her torso from behind. Blood flowed out of her mouth, spilling and coating her outfit. Ron then removed his blade, letting the purse-wielding bandit fall to the ground. He swiped his blade and with a cold glare, he looked at the one remaining enemy.

"Last chance." Hoodie lost two of her comrades, he couldn't see her eyes but he knew it was stained with tears. It was seen that her body was trembling in the terror that she was subjected to. She felt many emotions in her system. Anger, hate, sadness, grief, more importantly; fear.

Her knees buckled for awhile until they gave out. She then fell to the ground, on her hands and knees. Ron casually walked towards her. He bent down looking at her broken, emotionless face. "If they see you without a scratch, they'll think you did it. Isn't that how thieves are to each other, dogs eating dogs?"

She could only shiver at the sound of his voice, causing Ron to continue nevertheless. "Now I know I said that I'd let you go, but I have to make this real. I'm gonna lie, it's really gonna hurt."

"No…" Hoodie quietly said. She then felt a tight grip wrapped around her arm and the back of her shirt.

"No! No, please!" She begged. Her pleas were falling in deaf ears. She felt herself launched right out of the window. She screamed as her body was slammed onto the top of the car, causing glass to break and the alarm to blare.

He took the bag and fled the complex. He didn't smile at his actions, neither pride nor disappointment showed itself. What he did, was his duty, his responsibility… nothing else.

Traveling back to Bueno Nacho, he was mired in thought. About being here, about his self-imposed mission. Middleton has interesting characters here, yet they plague the good people here, they plunge this city into damnation. But they had a savior, temporarily. Ron hasn't seen Kim fight yet, nor has he challenged her in combat. For all her battles, the defeat of her adversaries happened to be temporary. The people still felt endangered.

Ned for example, he had no concern when saying that Kim couldn't find a permanent solution. When Ron decided to help, he had a… semi-permanent solution. Two of them are dead and one of them was broken, hollow. Would Hoodie still go back to her ways? He doesn't want to see it like that, but if it does… he'll do what he has to.

Going into Bueno Nacho, in his street clothes, he places a sticky note on the bag, as it read: 'The money you worked for Ned, plus interest… this never happened.' He sees Ned go into another room to take care of something, he decides to leave it near the cash register, being a noticeable spot to see.

With his job finished, now he can go home. Maybe tomorrow would turn out better and less… homicidal.

* * *

Kim was able to wake up as the morning came upon her. Everything seems less burdening since last night. Her thoughts freed from turmoil, caused by the responsibility to maintain a newfound relationship and to apprehend a murderous vigilante. Kim's done a lot of crime fighting, that she knows, people are always out to get her and she's come out on top.

As she freshened up, she goes downstairs to the kitchen to see her family. "Good morning Kimmie." Her mother chimed. She set her daughter's plate as well as her own.

"Hi mom." She says. Giving the plate of breakfast to Kim, Anne sits down with her family for a little time before they all go off onto their routines.

"What's the matter Kim? You look like you have a lot on your mind."

"It's no big Mom, just the usual stuff." She says. Well it was true… half-true.

"Are you sure Kimmie-cup? Because I'm reading the papers on this new vigilante group they're talking about… I thought you would've heard of it by now from Global Justice." James spoke.

"Aw man what if it's a ninja…" Jim said. "That'd be so cool." Tim adds to it.

Kim shoots her head in annoyance. "Did they specify if it was a group?" The redhead asks.

"They didn't. It's still under investigation. But a lot of people are thinking differently about it." Her father responded.

"Whoever it was… they knew what they were doing." Her mother added. After that, there was a ring.

"Hey Wade, what's the sitch?" Kim asked him. He could only say this in a brief mannerism.

"They struck again." He tells her. He then pulls out an image. "Someone targeted the Fashionistas late last night, Chino and Espadrille were killed. Hoodie survived but she's in the ICU after falling down from her place and flattening a car."

"Wade, is there something we can do at this point?"

"Not yet, the Director will have something for this, but for now we need to find out who's gonna be next, and see if Hoodie knows anything."

"Ok thanks." She hangs up.

"All of this happening close to home… one hand, people are safer… but like this… it's…" Anne couldn't find words to describe this, she didn't encourage or discourage this. But if there was anything about this, it was definitely unsettling.

"I'll stop this Mom, everything's gonna be fine." Kim, finishing her breakfast, kisses her mother on the forehead and leaves for school.

* * *

 _A nightmarish dreamscape began to haunt someone immensely. His hands, clawing at the comforting pillows as he shivers at the further thought._

 _He pictured himself in a car, in the backseat, his seatbelt strapped in as an older woman looked at him from her passengers seat. "Did you enjoy the circus, honey?" The woman said. The woman's voice, her look, her smile. He remembered it vividly, it was his mother._

 _Ron nodded his head. "I had a lot of fun." He said. Yet his voice was more child-like, that voice was him, when he was six years old._

 _"Well, when the circus comes back, we'll be able to make another visit." Ron's dad said._

 _"You promise?" He said as he played with the toys they bought for him. He would crash them together, making noises as they collided._

 _"We promise." Ron's mother said. They drove in the foggy night, the radio tuned on to relaxing songs as he was calm as can be. They were turning onto a curved road until… they saw a vehicle closing in on them… unintentionally that is._

 _"LOOK OUT!" They were sideswiped off of the road and into the woods, as several branches or barks of tree attack and tap at the windshield. Until something forces all three of them forward. They crashed onto a tree. Several minutes later, Ron took off his seatbelt and crawled toward his father._

 _"Daddy, Daddy?" He whimpered as he looked to see his face, unconscious and bleeding, his eye completely swollen. He then tried to shake his mom awake._

 _"Mommy, Daddy isn't waking up. Mommy, Mommy please!" He says. With him gripped in fear, his parents not moving, smoke coming out from the car, the windows broken into shards. There was only one thing he could do at a point like this…_

 _Scream._

"GGGRRRAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Ron clutched his head at the awful memory. Fresh tears came from his eyes as he jerked himself from the blankets and stood up. He forcibly opens his door to vent in the hallway.

"FUCK! FUCK!" He screams as he violently paces around clutching his head. He places his hand toward the wall, pinching his nose, attempting to calm himself down. He sees the time on his alarm clock, he sees that it's about two hours before he has to go to school. Maybe a drink of water with a workout can help him out.

He goes downstairs to the refrigerator, to see if there was any bottled water. He was right on the money. "Looks like they've been taking care of things home." He mumbled. He takes the cold bottle from the fridge and his attention turned to see cheese wrapped in a plastic bag, with a small chunk of it lying on the fridge shelf. He picks it up and placed it in the trash. He ponders to himself, whether or not he ate something before he went to bed, or maybe did some midnight snacking. He did remember walking down the steps like a zombie, drawn by his hunger.

Before he could leave for the front door, he looks at a picture of him and his parents, several years ago before the… accident. "Hey guys." He said in a somber tone, with a look to match.

He leaves the house, and takes a walk down the street. As he looks up in the sky, he was met with a vibrating feeling in his pocket. He got a call with an unknown I.D.

"Hello?" He answers the call.

"I'm reading the news of you stopping a plotted prison break and killing some random thugs. Almost makes me glad to see you doing well." It was the old man from the shop.

"I need something more, someone better, killing guys like them doesn't show progress." Ron didn't want to be pushy about this. But at least there should be someone that has a significant importance in this, someone who both heroes and villains worldwide would know in the upper echelon's of a crime syndicate.

"Aiming for the big sharks now?" A silence was heard across the call. "Jack Hench… he's your target." With that, the call ended. Ron remembers that name, from the guy he interrogated. If there wasn't anything on about Dementor escaping prison, that must've meant Kim stopped the delivery.

He pictured himself holding his blade, cutting down all of those ingrate scumbags piece by piece, he was itching for action, but that would have to wait. For now he needs to remain as Ron, the teen in high school. The guy in the crowd. He'll do the vigilante thing soon enough.

* * *

The sun seemed to shine brighter, the skies looked a lot more beautiful with the white puffy clouds adding to it. Kim walked towards the school to see her beloved artist, leaning onto a wall, taking a sip from his bottled water.

"Hey Josh." She waves at him and pulls him in for a hug.

"Kim." He said. The artist wrapped her in a hug as well. "How've you been? I mean after last night?" Josh was happy about their little outing, but what mattered to him, was her opinion.

Kim smiled. "C'mon, I really liked it. Believe it or not, it's was nice."

"Uh, yeah…" Josh began. "If it wasn't for the new guy, this probably wouldn't happened."

"I'd like to think it could've happened, he just sped things up in a good way." The redhead wanted to give the artist some level of pride for his boldness upon asking her out.

"I think you're right."

"Yeah. So listen, I've got this art thing I wanna go to tonight and… I just wanted to let you know and…"

"Yeah it's no big. Go on and have fun." She says.

"Cool. I'll see you soon." He walks away to get to his class. Leaving Kim to turn around and see another boy.

Blonde and restless, as if nothing could've lulled him to sleep the night before. His hands tugging at his hair as he then covered his mouth. He closed his eyes for a quick second and reopened them. He takes a look around the school and takes himself to the entrance.

"Hey, Ron." She walked toward him. It looked almost like the blonde boy wanted to get away, but he stopped in his tracks. He probably knew she caught up to this.

"Hey, you're Kim right? How did it go between you and him?" Ron asked. He wasn't sure if he cared or not about this, but it's a good conversation starter. "You looked pretty happy walking out."

"Yeah, it was pretty great. Look, I didn't really thank you properly for y'know… setting us up."

"Look don't worry about it. As long as you had a good time, it's cool." He waves it off, smiling.

"But still, you did a huge favor for me… thank you."

"Yeah, you're welcome."

"Hey do you know if Monique is ok? I mean I think I kinda ditched her after last night?" Kim said. She thought about it and felt pretty guilty about it.

"I mean I wouldn't call it ditching, because first off, you didn't plan to hang out, you ran into us. Look, class is starting and we don't wanna be late." Ron said walking into the school and into the classroom.

Another lecture ready to place all students into the thresholds of madness by knowledge, at least that's the way it was for those that couldn't deal with this right now. But to some, a saying held its significance in their minds; knowledge is power.

It was then a note was passed onto Ron's desk. 'Remember 2nite, U.O.M' he turned his head to see Monique. Turns out she was the one who written the note. He could only smile back and nod his head. The dreaded hours had passed and they had all left the classroom.

On his way to lunch, he was met with someone who called him over. "Hey Ron!" It was Felix, who wheeled his way toward him.

"Felix. Hey, what's happening man?" He said greeting him.

"Hey, you heard about the warehouse thing?" He asked Ron. He knew, because he was there… because Felix led him there.

"Yeah, it was crazy." He said nonchalantly. But his thoughts said something else completely. ' _Felix, h-he led me there… why else would he have this conversation? Does this mean that he knows? No, it was just happenstance, that's it. He doesn't have enough evidence to prove that I did it. Felix is a good guy, I don't want anything bad happening to him. Well, as long as he doesn't connect the dots, I'll be fine._ '

"Something happened with the Fashionistas too, two of them were killed and one is in the hospital. Honestly, I think there's a new vigilante here. I mean, Kim… she doesn't kill."

"A new vigilante?" Ron said. ' _Coincidence, rule it out as coincidence_.'

"Kim doesn't kill people, she couldn't have just snapped like that and go about things like everything's fine. The methods that he does are stealth-based. Don't get me wrong, Kim's capable of stealth, but once stealth is out of the picture, it ends in some sort of chase around the city."

"So she's bad at this?" Ron questioned. Felix shook his head.

"I didn't say she's bad. There's more ways to stop these guys… look they're both doing good for the good people. Some would like it, some wouldn't, but at the end of the day… it's a crisis averted."

Ron somewhat agreed to it. But he had another question. "Hey, you seem to know a lot about the whole crime thing here, why is that?"

Felix shrugged his shoulders. "I wanted to Kim on missions, y'know be the eyes and ears, hack, stuff that's behind the scenes. But she already has tech support so…"

' _He wants to help me… well vigilante-wise. Does he know what he's getting into_?' Ron thought.

"What, you wanna help him out?"

"I just wanna do something that… I dunno, can help people. So, I'm trying to see if I can track some leads." Felix looked in contemplation as he said this.

"Good luck with that." Ron said as he walked away.

* * *

Kim had a much better day along the road. But it was time to get down to business. All of her years of saving the world and meeting heroes like herself, she never encountered something like this. Someone running around Middleton, committing murder the chance he gets. But the victims weren't innocent people at all, criminals themselves were the targets. Criminals or innocents, this guy is crazy… and she's gonna turn him in.

Before she could think about this more, she could see that Wade was contacting her.

"What's the sitch, Wade?" The redhead spoke.

"For starters, Hoodie is still in ICU, under sedation."

"Is that it?"

"No, how do you feel about an electric based super villain?"

"Well that's something new." Kim said, she seemed to be interested in this.

"Her name is Electronique, she recently attacked a GJ compound containing weapons, it sounds pretty serious. GJ wants you to check it out, once your done, the Director wants to speak to you, something about a new mission priority."

"No big Wade, I'm on it." Kim was able to snatch a helicopter ride to her destination. Several students looked at the chopper descending in front of the school. This was going to be fun, it was nice to get a chance of scenery. What she didn't know, was that someone wanted a piece of the action.

Looking at their watches simultaneously, they both smile to themselves upon seeing it.

"More than enough time."


	5. Between Heroes

Chapter 5: Between Heroes

Kim looked through the dossier containing the files of one named Electronique. Weapons specialist operating in Go City, intelligent but short-tempered. She's attacking a weapons compound, at least that was the primary thought.

What if she wasn't attacking the compound, she was trying to rob it, if someone specializes in creating weapons wouldn't they want to… experiment? Of course Electronique is committing a crime, but instead of attacking the compound she's robbing it, or better yet, taking it over as her own. That's something to think about.

Kim skydives down to her destination, the wind violently pressing itself onto her body as she descends further down. She then deploys her parachute, where she landed on the roof of the building. She could see the dancing of lights below her. Crackling bolts of electricity flying across the area followed with the screams of the unfortunate victims. She could even see a guy flying out of the area and tumbling onto the ground. Ready to attack, she does a front tuck uses her rappel to swing herself inside the complex and successfully kicks her in the back, leaving the villain on the ground.

"Kim Possible." Electronique said in disdain. She shot a jolt of electricity at the redhead, but she dodged and flipped away. She then ran closer to her, heading for an attack. She does a left hook, a right jab, left elbow, but they were all blocked. With Kim kicking her right leg. She did back handspring, using one of her legs to kick Electronique's arm, which was stretched out indicating that she was going to blast her, although the blast didn't hit her, it went up to higher ground. But the distance, had left Kim in blasting range and the woman wasn't going to let her get any closer.

* * *

A light chuckle filled someone's lungs as he looked at the fight from afar. In his own accord, he decided to go where the action was. Down on one knee, his arm resting on the other, he observes the battle below.

'If there's something down there for me to help me get around the city better, that's means I need it. Who is the Ron-man to ignore this?' He thought. But that wasn't the only reason why he's decided to follow Kim.

Kim Possible is his opponent, not necessarily an enemy, but she will prove to be an obstacle, knowing her fighting styles will gain him knowledge, which will place him in an advantage. When the blonde boy saw her barge into the area, he was slightly impressed. As the fight progressed, several styles were shown.

'By the way she's punching and keeping her hands up, that's Boxing, her kicks are based on Tae-Kwon-Do, that elbow, is Muay Thai. So far that's three… wait a minute…' he then sees her perform a back handspring and kicking her opponent right on the forearm. 'That is definitely Savate, so she's got a little theatrical side to her. Kim's a cheerleader, so gymnastics would be incorporated for movement.' He looks on the fight to see if there were more styles to incorporate.

* * *

Kim, still dodging her attacks took cover behind several crates. Keeping herself behind things that help break the villain's line of sight.

"Hiding, are we?" Electronique says. She shot at the crates, if she saw a glimpse of the redhead, she would take the shot. But from the corner of her eye, she could barely see someone enter the vicinity and went deeper into the compounds, believing that it was Kim, she shot at it, only to see that there was no one there and the shot was for nothing. Kim wasn't there, for she was still on the ground as she tackled her her legs wrapped vertically around her waist as they both went to the ground, Kim uses her hand to rip off the generator from her leg, which grants Electronique her abilities, rendering her another commonplace enemy. Kim rolled out of the way, with Electronique focusing on repairing her generator, Kim kicked her in the face knocking her out. She pulls out her Kimmunicator and contacts Wade.

"Wade, it's done. Could you send someone to take care of Electronique?" She asked. As Wade typed on his computer, he was also doing some surveillance in the area as well. Some camera's were online, but there were some that weren't functioning. Being able to playback recent video footage, he determined that most of them were destroyed by the electrical villain.

Then two camera's went offline, and it was after Kim beat Electronique.

"Sure, but I need you to check out the facility more… I don't think you're alone."

"Alone? What's going on?" She asked.

"Someone must've snuck in when you two were fighting, two cameras went offline during your fight." Wade looked at the screen again. "Better make that three."

"I'm on it." She was able to restrain the villainess during her conversation. While she did it, it got her thinking. ' _Another person here, was that who Electronique was blasting at? He was right under my nose, at least for awhile. Probably just a henchmen._ ' 

She opens up a door to see someone, with a mask, a sword on his back, a couple pouches on his waist.

And he was looking right at her.

"Sorry to tell you this, but if you're looking for trouble, you're in the wrong place." She took up a fighting stance, smiling with confidence. "Word to the wise, bring more people if you want this to be a challenge."

Ron only stood still and shot daggers at the redhead. ' _A lot of confidence on her, maybe I can bring it down a notch_.' He thought.

The redhead walked up to him, signaling him to walk forward as well. He sprung himself up to a table his hand helping him stand and kicks her in the face. Standing up, he lifts his left leg to perform a roundhouse kick, but he faked it and quickly converted it into a side kick, which lands right on her ribs. He spins and does a hook kick, hoping it landed.

Kim was able to evade it and nail a right elbow on the side of his face. She then punches him in the gut, the redhead tried to land a hook, which Ron ducked. Kim needed to get another strike to stagger him, because he was gaining some ground. A backhanded punch would do the trick, if only Ron didn't block it.

Ron punched her after the blocked attack, with her arm still stretched out, he grabbed that arm and did a side elbow to the chest, he ran towards her, to use himself as a springboard and send her crashing to the glass but it didn't work out in his favor as the redhead threw him to the glass, shattering it in the process.

Kim sees him get up, but she uses a push kick to place him to the wall. Her left hand was ready to punch him, but he pushed it away, he made a quick wall run to mount the redhead and crash the both of them to the ground. Kim rolled once she was launched. Both turned to face each other, but not before Ron threw several shuriken at the redhead, for she twisted her body and landed behind a desk, taking cover.

'This guy, he is so not a henchman.' She thought with widened eyes. She couldn't fight this feeling that coursed through her body. This was exhilarating, a thrill unlike any other. This one was… completely different.

"Why did you come here?" Kim asked the ninja.

"Got bored, wanted to fight." Ron answers. Obviously he didn't want her to be on his tail so early, so a lie… well a half truth should be told for this reason. "So you're the girl who can do anything, except beat me in a fight. Oh yeah, work on your Wing Chun, it's kinda shitty."

"Trust me, I know sixteen styles of martial arts… you'll go down soon." Kim said.

"Really? I mean, I'm only seeing six. Trust me when I say, I've learned more than six styles, actually I know more than sixteen styles." Ron interjected. Kim used her rappel to launch herself up, with a flip, she landed on another desk. Believing that he was taking cover as well, she turns to meet his face, only to find no one there. But down the halls the redhead heard something.

"Hahaha." He laughed. He was making his escape, while she stood about. Obviously she refused to let this guy get off on this. She went down the hall, chasing him down, she sees a shadow at the end of the hall, then vanish before her eyes. She turns left to actually see the ninja run on some thick pipes, he jumps from pipe to pipe, closer to heading outside.

He turns around to look at Kim in the eyes. With a hidden smile, he addressed her. "We'll see each other soon, Kim." He does a front flip and throws kunai knives. He was hitting the pipes for it to rupture and cloud him in smoke, it temporarily blinded Kim, to which she covered her eyes and looked away. The performance was done successfully, masking himself into the dense clouds, he left her with several words. "This was way too much fun." He vanished quickly, leaving the redhead by her lonesome.

She then got her Kimmunicator to contact Wade. "Wade, I found our little intruder."

He took a look at the footage showing the fight between the two. "I'm guessing it didn't go well." He concluded.

"He got away, but what was he doing here in the first place?"

"I'm not sure, I didn't see him take anything."

"Well we've got Electronique in custody, that's still a…" she looked down at her waist to see that her rappel is missing. She gasps at this realization, when did he get the chance to take it from her?

Kim sighs "The last freaking second. Dammit." She mutters to herself. "Wade, there's a guy in a helicopter who dropped me off here, any chance you can contact him and get me home?"

"No problem, we're also replacing the rappel and giving you a new one for your inventory."

"Thanks Wade." She said with an uplifted smile. As she waited for the chopper, an exhale escaped her lips. She thought of that guy, the fight she had. Would she place him in Shego's caliber? He has bravado, he can fight similar to her, he's an escape artist. She could in a mannerism, but there was something about him that kept gnawing at her: how they placed each other in this thrilling battle.

'He said that it was fun? I want to say that it's so wrong but… no, get it out of your head. We were fighting, that's it. But the one thing he's right about… we'll be seeing each other soon. I'll be ready for him next time and this time, he won't run.' She was pulled from her thoughts as Wade contacted her once more.

"What's up Wade?"

"It's Hoodie, she's regained consciousness, still in the hospital and she's frantically asking for you. Authorities are trying to calm her down… but she's really calling for you. Says she'll cooperate if she's promised protection." Kim had a questionable look on her face, a villain coming to her for help, out of desperation too?

Once the chopper came, she sat as the passenger. Her next stop: Middleton Hospital.

* * *

Back into his street outfit, Ron leaned against a tree. 'Kim, she's strong…' he smiled weakly. 'Now that I know some of her movements, and what type of threat she poses…' he got up to walking back to Middleton. 'It'd be a good idea to keep my eye on her.' Keep your friends close and enemies closer. In Ron's case, Kim would be considered both.

With a stretch of his neck, he heads towards Middleton, with a new rappel 'gifted' to him. He uses his new gadget for his trip back home. Even if the fight in general wasn't tipped in either one's favor, he got something out of it. Speaking of fights…

'Aw man, if I miss this, I won't hear the end of it.' He thought. Even if he is a vigilante, he didn't want to isolate himself from his life outside of it.

Even so, as he quickly walked onto a residence. He patiently waited for Monique as he rang the doorbell. He took a quick breath and exhaled with a huff. 'Is it too late to back out now?' He thought randomly. As he did, Ron sees Monique open the door for him.

"For a minute, I thought you weren't showing up." She said smiling at him.

"Yeah something came up, are they still doing the under cards?"

"That finished several minutes ago, they're on commercial break and the main cards are about to start up. Come on in." Ron accepts Monique's invitation. "My older brother's in his room, don't worry, he doesn't bite. My room is right over there." She points to the door half open. She moved to the kitchen to get something from the fridge. "You want something to drink, a soda?"

"Uhh sure, thanks." He goes into the room to see a bowl of popcorn laid out on a carpeted floor. He looks at the tv to see the last of the commercials transitioning into G.W.A. "Hey it's back on." She rushed in holding two bottles of soda. Monique hands one to the blonde boy.

Ron sits next to the popcorn, with Monique lying down on her belly on the other side. They mindlessly take the popcorn from the bowl and consume some.

"This is gonna be awesome." Monique mumbles. "Steel Toe, he's gonna win this big time.

"Whaddya talking about? Pain King is gonna put Steel Toe down. He lost that title! He's gonna whip him bad!" Ron said. This got him excited and riled up for the match.

"Oh is that what you think?" Monique asked, how can Ron think Pain King was winning the match? She has plentiful of knowledge about G.W.A and maybe Ron does… but it'll be tipped in her favor.

"Trust me, I know what I'm saying."

* * *

Kim arrives at the hospital seeing several personnel guarding a specific room. Her mind was swathed in questions and concerns. Why would Hoodie reach out for her like this? Who was the new guy? That kind of stuff.

She sees someone walk out of the room and sees agent Will Du walk out of the room with a disapproving look on his face.

"Surprisingly, the director called for you in a situation like this." Will said. Arrogance did not seep through his voice so much as indifference did.

Kim folded her arms. "Surprisingly, even as 'top agent' you couldn't get things under control yourself." She scolded.

"Believe me agent Possible, I have bigger fish to fry. Protecting a known criminal has already placed the actions of Global Justice into question." He looked away at her and look through the window where Hoodie was lying down mumbling, shaking.

"I hope you're not trying to track the people who killed her friends." She said.

"I will allow the director to explain the situation. Even if I wanted to hunt this killer, it wouldn't be a problem for me as it would be for you." He left her with those words as he walked away. Kim could only shake her head in annoyance as she entered the room.

"Excuse me, Hoodie?" The redhead asked. As she peeked into the room, she sees both her and the director inside. She took a glance at the redhead, her look sporting grievance. Kim enters the room and shuts the door. "They said you called for me… why?" She asked softly.

The redhead saw her, broken trembling, her bleeding lip quivering her leg broken, left in a cast. A cut on her cheek and stitches on her shoulder. It was just mortifying to see something like this.

"They're gone, they're both gone." She murmurs. Her hands folded, with her body shaking.

The director looked at Kim. "Last night, someone murdered Chino and Espadrille, but left Hoodie as the sole survivor. We couldn't get anything out of her, now that you're here maybe that'll change." She says.

"Hoodie, how did this happen?" The redhead asked. She sat on the edge of her hospital bed, she wanted to place a hand on her lap but avoided the gesture.

Hoodie huddled her knees and looked away shaking her head. "It's too much." She choked.

"Then, can you at least tell me that when you were attacked by some killers, how many were there?"

"Had a mask, a sword… killed them both." Her face could only have the expression of shock all over her. The intense shivering coursing all over her body. She couldn't use her words correctly, the terror she had to live over and over was slowly consuming her psyche, driving her grief into fear.

"A mask…" Kim mumbled she remembered something. The guy she fought not too long ago, he had a mask, he had a sword, but he didn't use it… but he did have throwing knives… or something like that. He did look new to this whole crime-fighting thing, and he… had a lot of training in martial arts.

Kim looked to the director, her eyes bulged in realization. "It isn't a group of killers."

"If it isn't a group, then that means…" Dr. Director placed her index finger and her thumb onto her own chin. To top it all off, Hoodie held her index finger upwards… and only that.

"One… it's only one."


	6. New Priority, The Ruthless Ninja

Chapter 6: New Priority, the Ruthless Ninja

Kim was aghast, upon realizing that she was fighting a killer, a murderous animal set out to consume whoever did him wrong. He wasn't even serious… he took it as a game. His taunts, his absent motives… he just wanted to see what Kim could do. Yet Kim… she saw it as a game too and it consumed her with some level of guilt. Despite this, it didn't waver her determination to fight him again.

"Possible? A moment, please?" Betty said. She walked out of the room. While Kim was following her, she could hear Hoodie repeating the same words.

"Don't let him near!" She says. "DON'T LET HIM NEAR!" She said this repetitively as the people of the hospital attempted to calm her down. The redhead couldn't help but look back at what she witnessed… a complete meltdown.

"With Hoodie under GJ custody, we'll be under the radar of some organizations who'll want answers. At this point, we have to keep a tight lip on what happened. So far, with her mental state as it is, the option is to rule this as either a murder-suicide, or voluntary manslaughter." Betty said. This was suppose to be the game plan, Kim had to agree to this… but she didn't.

"So what, we just let this guy run around doing this? I mean she's a criminal and needs to be locked up, but there's something about this… and it doesn't make it right."

"The vigilante will be apprehended, we do not know his movements yet, but in the meantime, a team will be assigned to handle him." The last part of her sentence made her cringe slightly.

"Wait… y-you don't mean…"

"Yes. Team Impossible will oversee the investigation for the time being." She said with her fingers rubbing the temple of her skull.

"Director, is it really a good idea to send them on this mission?"

"I don't agree with it as much as you do, but we need to take care of this situation before it gets out of hand, if the investigation by team Impossible is a failure, It'll be handed to you. So until further notice, he's not your priority."

Kim walked away and went into the stairwell, her hands on her hips, head shaking in disagreement. It would be best to let the director think that she would be focused onto other matters. The one thing that Kim knows is that she wouldn't let this guy get away from her. She knows that it meant defying orders, but still… out of all the agents in this… she's better equipped to handle this. If anything, he'll show his face tomorrow.

She sighed under her breath. "This is…"

* * *

"Bullshit and you know it!" Ron couldn't take his eyes off of the screen. The sounds of Monique cheering and doing a little dance as she reveled in her victory. Steel Toe won the match against Pain King. For Ron, it wasn't even fair.

"That dude just hit Pain King with a chair and the ref didn't see it?! That's suppose to be a disqualification."

"Well it wasn't, Steel Toe won… I mean you should've picked the winning side." She reveled in her victory.

"Oh please, it's all a joke… if he didn't hit him with a chair, Pain King would've won, it was in the bag!"

"Doesn't matter how it was played, it was how it went!" She laughed at the win. She placed him in a friendly headlock. "It's fine that you're a little upset." She pets and strokes his hair. Lightly teasing him. "I mean c'mon…" she squeezes a bit on his neck. "Let's put a smile on ya."

"Ok, ok…" Ron says chuckling, he was actually smiling at her. As she squeezed more, he wrapped an arm around her waist. One hand grabs his other wrist, as she gently lifts her up and puts her on the bed. She squeals at the sudden strength she felt when her body was lifted from the ground.

"Don't suplex me." She said in a burst of giggles. She then slipped from his grip and rolled over so she was on top. She had then began to count. "One, two…" Ron grabbed her wrists smiling at her and sat himself up. The boy shook his head as he twisted each other around, placing him in the dominant position.

"One… two… three. Booyah!" Ron smiled at his victory. Him and Monique looked at each other with blank stares. That was until they started to laugh together.

"We just had to take this seriously, didn't we?" She says.

"Yup!" He exclaims. As they laughed together. "Uhh listen, it's getting late, I probably should head home." Ron said. Truth is, he felt that doing something that has already has such a level of physical contact would lead to more awkwardness.

"Sure. But don't think this is a one time thing." She lightly punched his shoulder.

"Yeah, it was pretty fun." He exited the house and walked home.

As he went inside the empty house, he let his bag fall to the ground. Then he flopped onto the couch with heavy eyelids, daring to go into his dreaming landscape.

He remembers himself sitting on a chair. A feeling of such cold air enveloped him as the sounds of people clamoring, telephones ringing and papers shuffling.

Ron looks at his scraped knees with some splatters of blood on his shorts as his tear-filled eyes was still clinging onto hope, Hope that would show him that his Mom and Dad would be ok.

He couldn't see the doctors or this random man converse at the other end of the hallway. The man had walked up to the kid, looking at him with sorrowful eyes.

"Hey Kid, I'm sorry about what happened to your parents."

"Are Mommy and Daddy gonna be ok?" Ron looks at him, filled with hopeful eyes. Sadly, there was something that'll deprive him of that; reality.

"I'm sorry kiddo, but they… they didn't make it." A cold feeling gripped Ron's heart as it also placed such a heavy feeling in his rib cage.

Ron woke up from his dream. He didn't jerk himself awake like last time. His eyelids slowly awoke to see him still in his clothes and lying on the couch. Ron gets up heading upstairs.

"I need a bath."

* * *

Felix is a determined, intelligent person. Despite his condition, it had never stopped him from enjoying the fine things in life. Even so, there was something he wanted to do.

He wanted to help out Kim Possible with her vigilante thing that she had going on, he wanted to be her eyes and ears. He had some skills in hacking and technology, but Kim already had a tech geek in her place. He wasn't one to take it personal, he's a good dude through and through. However it didn't stop him from taking a gander at what was happening, it was pretty interesting.

There was something that was bugging him, and it was some other vigilante. His little debut didn't start until today, but that's what's bugging him, who was this guy and why did he show himself of all times? There's a pattern in it, the problem is to piece it all together.

"There's something, but what?" Felix said to himself. 'I'm missing something, he shows up now out of the blue and he fights as if it's second nature.' The boy actually did a little hacking and found some camera recordings of the vigilante, one on the warehouse attack and the other at the compound. Felix had to deduce that the vigilante had a long period of training, military or ex-military maybe?

As he continues to watch the videos, from the infiltration to the fighting, this type of training was more of what martial artists did. He stuck to the shadows, threw shurikens and smoke bombs, slashing the thugs with his swords and even accepts a guy's challenge to fight hand to hand. Either he has a code of honor or he's somewhat sadistic to his enemies physically and mentally, or both.

There was more to what he was seeing, and it wasn't the fighting styles, but rather the timeline. He makes his debut this week, with an extensive amount of training that has taken years of course. Coincidentally, a new student has arrived at his school in the same week. The probability of Ron being the same vigilante based on timing could be accurate, but it lacked evidence… and the only way to uncover the evidence was to look deeper.

Felix had to link a crime or assault that correlated with his theory, or perhaps the aftermath of an event. 'Bueno Nacho has been breathing easier lately. Ned seems to be in a better mood this week too, Kim was dealing with someone because of this… would that happen to be the Fashionistas?' He then hacked into the Bueno Nacho surveillance cameras to find something that related to the case. He found something.

Felix looks at the camera outside and sees the Fashionistas enter together in the restaurant, Ned was there too, sweeping the floors and minding his business. 'Ok so they enter, and they want to extort him of the money. Seems a simple case, in and out…' He then looks to see a boy with a backpack hoisted on his shoulder. 'Wait a second… that's Ron.' He paused for a second to see him stare down three people. The video was then showing the fight.

This was unreal, the speed, precision, power and brutality that Ron showed, it looked like the stuff that Kim does. He then sees Ron breaking some of their bones and whispering what was probably a threat before they all ran or limped away, depending on how it was looked at. It seems that Ned was talking to Ron about his little problem and offered to take care of it, without hesitation or a tang of guilt, Ned accepted, no questions asked.

To top it off, Felix remembers something, he talked to Ron about the supposed prison break that ironically never came to be, because of an unknown assailant who murdered the thugs. An uneasy feeling clutched at his stomach, he didn't want to believe it, but it's the writing on the wall; he condemned those criminals to death. How… he told Ron where they would be.

Ron knew how to take care of himself, a suspicious piece of evidence was how he defended himself against a bully trying to extort money off of him. Barely a scratch on him, even in his eyes Ron knew he already won.

But there was one more thing he had to check. Ron claimed to be from a boarding school and probably had to use a method of transportation, he didn't have a vehicle, so it could be a plane, a train, something along those lines.

'Ok, so if I find records of transportation somewhere around this week… I might be able to find his name.' With his fingers prowling about the keyboard, he found something… a ticket for a flight here to Middleton from… Japan? 'Well he did tell me that, so it checks out.'

With the information he's gathered, Felix decided to hold onto it until, he was confronted about it. If there was a chance he could take to help out the world, this could be his chance. Ron's vigilante game is focusing on the small fries… so if he's led into the right place as he was from last time… it would definitely be efficient. He'll have to withhold what he's found from the authorities and Kim Possible as well as her hacker. They probably don't know who the vigilante is… and he'll keep it that way.

It seems that he's got some work to do.

* * *

A man looks outside of his window to see the city lights shining below him. He sits on a chair, where he spun around with a glare kept on his face, it put his bodyguards in an uneasy state, as well as his advisor, but he didn't tend to show it.

"So you're telling me…" he snarls. "No, no, we've already established Miss Possible destroying a weapon of mine while in shipment. But now you're telling me that some of my men were murdered, BY ANOTHER VIGILANTE?!" His fingers clawed at his desk as he violently stood up.

"Y-yes Mr Hench. Somehow this new vigilante has caught wind of the attempted prison breakout of Professor Dementor which resulted in a failure… so far there hasn't been an alias or a name for this individual as of late. The man said.

Jack could only flare his nostrils. "I don't care what his name is, and I certainly don't care about some idiots cosplaying around my city pretending to be some big shot hero. The minute that Kim Possible took my shipment… MY SHIPMENT, all of that money went down the FUCKING drain! Dementor supplied this weapon in exchange for a few people to aid his escape. Not only a couple hundred thousand dollars wasted, but my men… MY OWN MEN slaughtered to nothing!" He smacks a pile of documents off of his desk to show his frustration and walks around.

"When Dementor wired that money-" he paused and clenched his hand into a fist. "This company was going to break ground in Upperton, but it's just Middleton and Lowerton for the taking. The new revenue, the increased profit, this was an opportunity and they messed it up." Jack wanted to scream more but reduced his voice.

"We've also have reports that the driver has been imprisoned and is about to inform the Middleton Police Department of the crime." The advisor said.

"Lurman." Jack spoke. "Get someone nearby on the line. I want this taken care of. Quietly. As for this new vigilante, if he shows his face again… put him down… make an example who gets in my way.

"Of course sir. Also there are several benefactors who have taken a look at you and was willing to contribute a total of $2.3 million dollars for the organization. They are also hoping to see you make an appearance at the party you're hosting within the following week."

"At least some good came out of this damn day… get my tailor on the phone, I need a new suit. He leaves his office and heads for the elevator. Maybe when the week passes he'll be calm enough to make an impressive appearance, he's done it on the media so far… so he'll have to keep the train going.

* * *

The next morning was just another day of school, for Kim, she wanted to muffle her groans with her pillow shoved onto her face. But she couldn't, the redhead knew how to take this. But she wasn't the only one, even in her neighborhood someone felt the same way, like Ron for instance.

He wakes up to make his way to Middleton High, and goes to the hallway where his locker resided. He opens it up to see a small parcel resting there untouched. Seeing this in suspicion he looks around the hallway to see if any of the students were watching him. As he did, he reads a message scribbled on the package.

' _OPEN ME_ '

As he ripped the package open, he sees a headset, that's used on a phone, yet there's something odd about it, even if it's a headset, there wasn't a phone to go with it. He then sees another note.

'PUSH THE BUTTON'

He did so and because of it, a voice spoke to him. Yet the voice was disguised, gruntled and distorted. " **Ron Stoppable, I am someone you can consider an ally.** " The blonde boy was confused at this. Was this some sort of prank? If it was, it doesn't seem to be a good one. " **I know who you are, and what you can do, you haven't been here long, but you've caught my attention. I want to help you with your 'nightly' experiences. The people you're targeting were petty thieves, but there's more to them. Not only that, there are more lucrative and appropriate targets for you to hunt. As a show of good faith, I want to equip you with new weapons. I will also inform you that a hit squad has been sent to kill you in your vigilante persona, by none other than Jack Hench himself. If you choose to heed my message, you will go to the gymnasium in the boy's locker room, after school. You will see a locker numbered 227, the combination is 13-29-5. What you'll find is new equipment, in a duffel bag. More instructions will be revealed after this. If you do not wish to follow through with this, then you're free to resume your crusade as is, and I won't contact you again. To add on a personal note, you need someone to be your eyes and ears, to help you really strike a blow in the criminal community, I'm sure you'll do the right thing.** "

His heart raced, his eyes widened. He rips the headset from his ear and placed it in his pocket, he then takes the empty parcel an throws it in the nearby trash. He closes his locker and walks to class. After a couple steps he finally calmed down enough to breathe steadily and mask this wave of panic. He sits down with his thoughts constantly bombarded with distress.

' _Someone knows who I am?! How?!_ '

* * *

 **Hi it's Dismal again. I wanted to say sorry for the long wait, it's been a busy summer for me at this point and I haven't had much time updating as I normally would. But maybe this chapter oughta get me back in the groove. I've even been having small thoughts, writing-wise… like Ron's vigilante name in this story, maybe a sequel to Break Away (dunno about that part), should Hoodie live or die. Just stuff that makes you wanna think. I dunno.**

 **But I'm gonna do my best on this story, so read review and I'll see you soon.**


	7. Eyes and Ears

Chapter 7: Eyes and Ears

He looked around, his hands shook nervously in his pockets as he walked to class, constantly thinking about the predicament he somehow got himself into. It hasn't even been a month and already he was exposed in what… two, three days?!

Ron muttered curses under his breath, scolding himself for his impatience. He could've waited longer until making his move as a vigilante. Yet he couldn't… what would've happened to Ned, or the officers that were holding Dementor? They would've been killed! With a pen in his hand, he curled his index finger upon it… squeezing it in order to keep himself in check.

'Damn it, just damn it!'

Kim and Monique walked into class, all giggling as they had their conversation. Even in whispers, he could make out what they were talking about.

"C'mon, you just met him and you invited him over to your house?" Kim says. "Aren't you jumping the gun a little early?"

"Oh really? You're one to talk…" Monique chimes "You keep your eyes set on your man and don't worry about mine. We're just friends Kim, that's it."

"It always starts that way…" Kim says.

"No, trust me… it'll stay like that." Monique assured her, she looked at Ron, he waves at her. She waved back as a result.

This placed Ron into thought, the way they entered. With his predicament, he thought those Global Justice hounds would be on his trail, but they weren't… at least not yet. Kim could've stormed in with several agents, screaming about how he's the vigilante, Monique would be in shock about it, not because he's a hero, but it's would be the killing part that concerns her. He's placed in a facility and imprisoned, his dual identity exposed as a result.

Kim didn't know who he really was, so she couldn't be the one blackmailing him. He had to narrow it down to several candidates, but there was a lot, if only the caller didn't disguise his voice. There are several things that he knows about the caller, proficient in technology, better intelligence about Middleton's underworld, and eager to earn his trust.

Before he could dwell upon it further, he felt a slip of paper on his lap. He opened up the paper to see it had a note. 'Wrestling girls to the ground, are we?' :P

He looked back to see that Kim was sporting a look, not out of anger… so that's a good sign. Ron could humor her, so he wrote back.

'4 the record, she was on top for the first few minutes.' He made sure the note got to Kim. She stifled a laugh as she read the letter. She covered her smiling mouth.

'How very gentleman-like. I heard you two got a little rough.' Kim wrote.

'D.W. I wasn't that rough, I made sure I was gentle.'

'Were your hands in the right place?' Kim isn't necessarily trying to flirt with Ron, she wanted to hear this from another person, of course she'll believe Monique, she's just looking out for her.

'Round the waists, touched the hips, not in **_that_** way tho. O.o'

Before Kim could write back another response, Barkin had already walked into class, leaving Kim with the fact that Monique and Ron didn't really do anything intimate… it was just wrestling. Still, using double entendre didn't do it any favors however.

To another case that was at hand, there wasn't much crime to fight last night, not as much as she was used to. Normally, she would've been on the phone with Monique, but her and Ron were having the time of their lives wrestling. She probably could've called Josh, but refrained from doing so. Kim could catch up with him when they head to the cafeteria for lunch. She didn't want to admit it, but it was plain as day; she was bored and there was something, or someone else that sparked an excitement inside her.

What did she feel… when she was out on patrol? When she rooted out every crevice of evil and locked it in cells, it got her adrenaline pumping for sure, and yet… something was different about this day. Even if she felt fear, it never consumed her. What did consume her however, was a thrill. How it caused her blood to boil, to flow with such stimulation. Even her mornings felt… better. Not just better because she has a guy or that she is widely loved, but there's a challenge out there for her, A challenge that she is more than willing to pass. Kim will not let it be turned into an obsession. But this is just something that she can't just walk away from, not even if the director ordered her to.

Kim was going to do it, she was going to go against orders. The redhead was going to take down this vigilante herself. You probably have something against team impossible, and probably will… but be stuck with them in a room for several hours, then you'll immediately feel her pain… well not pain so much as irritation.

The school lecture had finally ended with the school bell coming to their salvation. It was finally time to get some lunch. Luckily she saw a boy catching her eyes, Josh Mankey.

"Hey Kim… ah, good to see you."

"Josh! Hey sorry I couldn't call you yesterday I was uhh…"

"Hey don't worry about it, you save a lotta lives who am I to get in the way of that? I mean…"

"Thanks for understanding, if you want we can…" Kim wanted to eat lunch with Josh for a bit. It doesn't really qualify as a date, but the relationship is starting off pretty good. They both wanted to be close at this point.

"Yeah sure… why not." As they walked to the tables to eat together. The artist actually had started the conversation.

"So hey, there's gonna be an artists exhibit after school. I mean if you wanna come, it be pretty cool."

"Really?! I mean yeah, sure! It'll be fun." She says.

"That's awesome, it's gonna happen around four, so maybe I'll see you there."

"Definitely!" As they excitedly talked to one another. It placed her mind away from the other concerning nature at hand… but she will get back to it. One day to herself wouldn't hurt anyone.

Time had passed… whereas Ron's panic had actually deteriorated. A sharp breath had escaped him as he went to the locker room in the gym. He had instructions to follow, he was also given enough time to think about his… 'priorities'.

This guy designated his next little clue in the locker room in the gym, placing it in a duffel bag. He had his eyes on Ron, it was already narrowed down that he's a Middleton resident. But there was something else about it. He knew what school he went to, he was inside the school when he would drop off this said equipment. He wanted to investigate more about this person, so doing what he says can maybe place a certain amount of clues.

He went up to the lockers counting the several numbers so he can find the one the caller specified. "Damn it, ok… 223, 225, here it is 227." He touches the lock, about to twist and turn the mechanism for it to be unlocked. "13…29…5." With a yank, it unlocked. "Booyah!" He cheers.

He sees a grey duffel bag and takes it out of the locker. He sees two zippers, a main one and another just lower to the main. He opens the other one first, to see that there's a phone inside with a note taped to the back.

'Link the headset' it said.

He did so and heard the voice speak to him again. "I see that you've gotten my message." The voice was still disguised. There was a slight pause between the both of them. Ron didn't know if it was a prerecorded message or if he was speaking to the guy for real. "Last time my voice was on a message that was already recorded. I can assure you that you're speaking to me in real time."

Ron still slightly unconvinced, responded to the sentence. "Ok, so I got your little message. You have my attention for only one reason: you know who I am. You say you wanna help right, you're giving me this equipment to show good faith. So that's a start." He unzips the duffel bag to see the gear and he shows curiosity. He takes out to see what looks like a mask, but incomplete.

"Instead of a balaclava mask, you now have a half-face mask. It was a little tricky to make, considering that you would be in hand to hand combat, exposure to gases, identity concealment. It worked regardless."

Ron places the mask back in the bag, he pulls out two matching pair of gauntlets. "These are your new forearm protectants. Compared to your old one, this will absorb more shock and impact damage. Should be more comfortable for you to maneuver without sacrificing striking power or speed. It also comes with a matching set of armor for your calves."

Ron jokingly chuckled at his new forearm protectors. "What, no blades?" Yet, speaking of blades…

Ron pulls out two sets of swords, identically similar. "Two custom-made wakizashi blades. Serrations in the middle with a sharpened tip. The hilt of the blade should be more comfortable for you to grip, it hasn't sacrificed its piercing and slashing advantages." Ron took the blade out and twirled it for awhile.

"Ok, so what's the situation? Jack Hench is obviously my target, but I think you went through all of this with a well thought out plan." Ron surmised.

"Hench is obviously aggravated at you and Kim Possible's interference in his operations. Global Justice has sent a squad of three to apprehend you, and Kim Possible herself wants to stop you. So, sending both Global Justice and Henchco a message is the first step."

"Good idea." The blonde boy said.

"Jack Hench holds an underground weapons cache that's been under investigation. Security is of course under Hench's payroll, so expect about a dozen of them. Global Justice had placed it under surveillance for a short while, but they've been looking in the wrong place. If someone makes a little appearance, destroys their cache… you will gain GJ's attention. Particularly, the three man squad is known as Team Impossible will make their appearance. If they fail to capture you, the word will fall to Kim. You can have your little fun if you want, or you can escape if it becomes too much."

Ron took the bag, hoisted it on his shoulder and walked out of the school. "Destroying a weapons cache, huh? They'll be down a business location and the profit margin will decrease… why can't it just be easy as to kill the boss and that would be the end of that?"

Hours later he arrives at the location of interest. It looked like an empty lot with some empty car sitting on the grassy fields, stripped of its parts and left to rust.

"What am I looking at?" Ron asked as he approaches the vehicle.

"There's an entryway, looks to be… underneath the car?" The speaker says.

He was right, there's a hatch that he could open to access the bunker. Jumping down to meet the dusty grounds, he looked to see if there was any guards witnessing his entrance, there were two in fact. They were met with a swift demise with two shurikens lodged into one persons head and another's throat. Walking without a care he enters further into the bunker. But maybe he could chat with his 'tech support'.

"Hey, I got a question… to destroy the cache, I have to blow up the weapons or cause a cave-in or both?" Ron curiously asked. "I mean, probably both, but I'm just making conversation."

"Both would be important, Hench loses his cache and bunker and thieves won't take this hideout as their own. There's some explosives that are probably down there, I can take you step by step if you want to detonate them." Before he could say anything, he heard footsteps.

"Someone's coming." Ron says. Indicating they should go silent. He took cover behind the walls, but he could hear the footsteps inching closer… they were coming his way.

As the first man was in arms reach, he grabbed his hand to pull him closer and slashed his hip. He definitely saw three others. He attacked the one on his left as he stabbed him on the side of the neck with his blade. He moved his body towards the other two and did a push kick which sent them both reeling towards the wall, with the sword escape the neck of its latest victim, Ron slices one man's gut horizontally, the last victim was able to grab Ron's arm and push him against the wall. The blonde ninja had then jumped up, applied his weight, twisted himself in the air and slam his enemy onto the ground and stab him in the head with a kunai.

Ron picked up his sword and runs to another entry point, it looked like an office that overlooked the lower levels. There was someone in there, as he creaks opens the door. A man with a half-eaten hoagie overlooks bunker whether scientists are experimenting or engineers designing whatever weapons they were assigned to create.

The man looks behind him, only to be grabbed by the neck. His body forced against the glass. "Do you value your life?" Ron says to him. "I want you to deliver a message to the nearest precinct, or someone from Global Justice about where this place is, who owns it, who works here and what's coming in and out of here day-to-day. Do it and I will spare your life." Ron let's go of his throat, letting him catch his breath. The man grabs a bottle and attempts to smash it on the ninja's head, but it was caught and they were both sent flying out of the window. Ron with his newly stolen grapnel, shot it above one of the ledges, and as he swung towards wooden crates, he let the man's slam onto them as Ron propped himself up to higher ground, seeing a guard racing to the sound of the noise, to meet a kunai right to the chest. Ron lunges towards another guy in his sights and stabs him right in the leg.

"Walk it off." Ron says as he knees the guard in the jaw.

"Ok, I see the cache tell me what to do." Ron says. As instructed several explosives were placed onto crates, weak spots of the bunker, all ready to detonate at his say-so.

"Ok mission accomplished, now we need to…" Ron felt trembling in the ground, could it have been an earthquake? No it couldn't be… there was a faint whirring sound, but as it inched closer, the sound became more clear. He saw something break through the ground. He marvels at what he saw, for it somewhat shocked him.

"A drill?" He goes up to higher ground to get a view away from the line of sight and see three burly men exit the machine and started beating down on the remaining thugs. All he could do was look in displeasure. "That's one way of getting in."

As the three confirmed the director that they were inside, they see one man, covered in blood, it covered his shirt and spewed from his mouth. Crash looked around and saw a man clad in garments towering over them standing on other crates.

"He's here."

"That's my cue." Ron mutters to himself as he jumps to meet the team. "I got to admit, your infiltration is too bombastic for my taste. Bombastic but flashy in a cliche sense." He walked towards the man he threw out the window. He points the blade's tip on the man's neck, he winces in pain as he could feel the cold steel drew blood. "This guy here, this ah… bleeding moron, is in charge of overlooking the place. See it would be easy to… slit his throat and be on my way, but I'm pretty sure this guy knows a bit more about other locations like this."

"Put the sword down now!" Crash Cranston yelled. Ron was just as calm, unmoved by his attempt to be dominant.

"I mean he's a piece of shit y'know… and you people are fighting assholes like him everyday, even Kim. You don't really have any solutions to stop this do you?"

"Stop, please… I'll give you whatever you want." The wounded man said. It only caused Ron to punch him in the face, giving him a bruise on the side of his cheek.

"Shut up!" He pointed the blade's tip on his ankle. Clearing his throat in the process. "Sorry about that, guys like him piss me off." He looks around to see the unconscious men beaten by Team Impossible tried to stagger on their feet. He then scoffs at both the team and the bad guys. "You didn't finish them off?"

"Put your sword down and place your hands behind your head!" Crash gave him a second warning.

"Ohh, strike two. Let's see where strike three takes me." Ron charges towards the stunned criminals and slices them with his blade and skewers them with shuriken in front of the team with impressive speed. Knowing that team Impossible won't stand for it, he sees Burn charge at him trying to hit Ron in the jaw, he spins, ducks and slashes the man in the leg. Burn recoils in pain as he lost his balance and falls to the ground. Ron then threw a smoke bomb between them and was going to make his escape, but not without parting with some words.

"The place is rigged to blow, I'd run outta here if I were you." As he ran towards the hallway from his left he sees one of the team members shoulder charge him, slamming him onto the wall. Since it wasn't Burn, it was someone else. Dash Damont.

Getting up from the impact Ron struck him with a right hook to the face, a left jab to the stomach. He then grabs the back of his head, pulls him close and knees him in the gut.

Ron uses Dash's body as a support to vault him in the air and kick Crash in the head, but it only got him on the shoulder. Pushing him toward the wall, Ron was able to get into his knees, strike his leg with his elbow, punch him in the stomach twice. He gets up to punch Crash in the jaw, grab him and slam him to the ground. Dash placed the ninja in a full Nelson hold, but Ron uses his strength to slam him onto his teammate. With Crash disoriented, Ron does a push kick straight to his head that effectively knocks him out. Rolling out of the way, he sees Dash and himself crouching, he does a sweep kick towards him and it lands on his cheek.

Burn on the other hand, limped towards Ron and did a soccer kick to his stomach. Before Burn could stomp on him, Ron kicked him in the shin where he wounded his leg. He digs his fingers into the wound to get him on his knees. Burn could only grab Ron's wrist as tight as he could. With the pressure not moving him, Ron grabs him knees him right on his face, probably breaking his nose, an elbow to his temple, a kick to his wounded leg once again, a head kick to the temple of his head.

Ron didn't need to look behind him to know that Dash was coming for him. He jumped up to do a back kick. Effectively pushing him away and quickly pulls out a detonator.

"The cache is set to blow." He says as Team Impossible regroup and pick themselves up. "I'll give you a couple minutes to get outta this place before it's all caved in." His thumb hovers over the button as he slowly backs away from them and leaves the bunker the same way he got in. As he got back up to sunlight, he sees a jeep, parked outside the entrance. Wanting to get back into the city quickly, and deprive the team of their transportation just to spite them, it didn't take him long to make a decision.

"Ehh." He says as he got into the car. He waits until three minutes pass by, he pushes the detonator, exploding the bunker and burying the dead bodies of the criminals he's killed. Before he even pushed the detonator, he could feel the ground shake again, even the car shook.

"Looks like they made it to the drill." He drives away to Middleton and parks the car in an abandoned lot. As he slams the door, and walks away from the car. Someone was watching from above. A certain someone who's been waiting for him. A female redhead.

"I see him, he took their car and he's leaving the lot." A female voice said.

"Luckily the GPS tap was online."

"But there's no sign of team Impossible."

"Do you think he killed them?"

"I dunno Wade, but he will answer for what he's done." She took out her jetpack, with the wings spread out, she took a leap of faith and charged at the ninja.

"OOF!" Was the sound Ron made as he was tackled and flew into the air as he zipped through the air with the redhead girl.

"Gah!" Kim grunted as she tried to grab a firm hold on Ron as he fought to wiggle his way out of her grip. He punched her in the stomach repeatedly, as Kim punched him in the face in retaliation. Kim slams him onto the walls of buildings, as he did the same thing. Both of them were fighting for dominance, with one and the other losing advantage each time. They flew to street level and heard the honking of car horns as they missed oncoming traffic, but not without slamming each other's bodies onto commercial trucks.

"Hold still!" Kim said as she kept fight Ron, punching him consecutively in the face. Ron caught the next fist and slammed his head onto her face and followed with punches of his own.

"Not like this!" Ron could see the rooftop of the building as both heroes inched closer to its level. "Ok, let's see you fly with one wing." He takes his sword and stabs of of the jetpack's wings causing them to fly and spiral out of control. Ron then cut off the straps of the jetpack as they were about to crash onto the roof.

They rolled, grunting and feeling the impact of the crash as they finally came to a halt. Kim's jetpack fell off the roof onto the streets. Both struggled to get up due to the agonizing pain.

"Let's not do that again." Ron suggested he said, stretching his arms and legs.

"Deal." Kim says as she wipes blood from her face.

"So, you came back for round two?" Ron says.

"This time, you're not gonna run." Kim clenched her fists and stared down the ninja, wanting to put a stop to him.

"Trust me when I tell you…" he sheathes his sword, clenched his fists and stared her down as well. "I won't."

The second fight between Kim and Ron, both have been wanting this rematch for a bit. Their eyes lit with the passion of warriors, running towards the front lines of combat with their weapons, their moral codes, their pride… all for one purpose that is commonly shared.

 _'I… will… win!'_


	8. There's Usually A Cost

Chapter 8: There's Usually A Cost

Kim and Ron looked at each other… their eyes burning with the passion of the challenge. Even as they charged forward, with scowls upon their faces. But inside, they smiled maliciously. The clash happened when their forearms slammed against each other.

"So you're the guy killing criminals huh?"

"Guilty, but not sorry." They pushed away and started to engage in another fist fight.

Kim was going to uppercut Ron straight to the jaw, but the attack was parried and the redhead was met with an elbow to the cheek, then a jab to her ribs. Ron was about to kick her in the leg but she brought her leg up and did a push kick, staggering the ninja.

Twisting herself in the air, Kim kicked Ron in the face, as she was about to strike, she sees the vigilante about to attack her with a spinning back fist to which she ducked easily. She punched him in the stomach twice, a third strike landed on his face. Kim was about to hit him again but her attacking hand was grabbed. She felt herself being pulled closer to her adversary and was met with a head butt. Kim saw and felt the boy leap, using her body. He vaults on top of her and slams her to the ground.

Ron then charged Kim as she got up and was about to give her a flying knee, but she was lucky that the attack actually missed. As she got up, he sweep kicks her back to the ground again and brought his heel onto her stomach. As he rolls out of the way, Kim got up and shot her rappel at Ron, he was able to catch it, but that was what the redhead was counting on.

Kim zips herself towards him and kicks Ron in his chest. As Ron falls to the floor, he sees Kim charging towards him. He digs his boots onto her stomach and kicks her out of the way. They both regain their footing, circling one another… catching their breath before throwing themselves back in combat.

"How could you just kill those people?" Kim asked. If this was a cold blooded killer, how and why would he or other people consider him a hero? Is he sane, does he know what he's doing? Questions like these swirled through her head.

"Simple: one swipe of a blade." Ron answers with brutal honesty, not even a pang of guilt or doubt. He tries to kick her in her hip, but she caught it. Ron leaped and used his other leg to kick her in the face. As the redhead staggers back and Ron gets up from the ground, he throws several shuriken at her, Kim dodges all of them.

' _A diversion_?' She asks herself. ' _Which means…_ ' She instinctively blocked an attack by Ron and threw him towards a skylight where she was about to tackle him through the glass, but her efforts were reversed as Ron picked her up and slammed her through the skylight, causing them both to fall down and slam onto the wooden floors.

The two hacked and coughed as a light coating of dust engulfed the two, attacking their lungs. They crawled away from each other, lying against the wall.

"Let's never do that again either." Ron said to the redhead. He began to move his body slightly, whether for blood circulation or to ease his pain. It didn't matter to him, and it didn't matter to Kim either.

"Deal." She half-heartedly agrees. Using the walls to support themselves, they get back up, knuckles crunching. Kim grabbed his shirt and threw him towards a fragile wooden door, revealing a stairwell. His body crashes onto a ledge. Ron recovers and throws Kim towards a wall. With a palm strike, Ron sends Kim crashing down a flight of stairs, twisting and turning like a wreck. She could only get up onto her knees, crawl towards Ron and resume the fight, yet her body fails her at this endeavor.

She sees the vigilante towering over her. She felt air violently escape her lungs as a kick to her stomach was felt. He looked up to see the eyes of the vigilante showing indifference, apathy. Doesn't even have a care for the world at this point. "You want to be the hero to save this city? Tch… those scumbags don't deserve mercy, just as Espadrille and Chino." Ron says, clearly with a disregard for criminal lives. It didn't matter what he did to them. "Send Hoodie my regards."

He throws out a smoke bomb and dashed out of the area. Leaving a battered and utterly defeated redheaded heroine. She gets up to run after him, but he was no where to be found. She immediately pulls out her Kimmunicator.

"Wade."

"Kim are you alright?" Wade looked at the disheveled face of his friend.

"Yeah, I'm fine. The vigilante… he got away. Can you track him?" She runs up to the skylight they crashed into earlier. Kim ignored the searing pain of the fight.

"No, sorry… I can't pickup any surveillance at this point. But I'll keep looking… why don't you get some rest?"

"Thanks Wade, just keep me posted." She cut the communications and left the building. Normally, she would be in a slightly depressed state and head home somberly. But there is something that could take her out of such an unwanted mood.

* * *

Minutes Later:

"Hey Kim." A smile appeared on a certain artist's face but it quickly vanished as he looked at her eyes. It may not have been blackened or bruised enough to merit question, but she had an exhausted look which she covered with a smile.

"Hey Josh, sorry I was a little late, just had a little thing to do at work."

He then voiced his concern. "I can see that… hey if you wanna do this another time, I won't hold it against you."

She gave a light chuckle. "Trust me, I've dealt with worse and I've been waiting for this, so it shouldn't be a problem." He still felt as if he should object, but he wouldn't deny her. If Kim feels like she should do this, why intervene. It's not that he's oblivious about Kim's strength, will and pride, the artist sees it every day. Despite having a small feeling of a need to turn back, he pressed on with her.

* * *

Ron was able to return home, brushing off some remnants of glass from the skylight off of his body. He takes off his outfit heads to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water from the fridge and heads to the bathroom. Before walking inside, he takes a swig of water and rinses his mouth that had the taste of blood lingering about. He spits the water mixed with blood onto the sink and prepares a bath for himself.

He washes off the filth that had pretty much covered him over the course of the day. He sliced through thugs, he fought three burly guys and he fought his classmate aka the great Kim Possible. Nothing wrong with a quick soak, right?

It probably won't be long until the guy who knows his identity contacts him or something else has his attention. As he does he could feel his eyelids becoming heavy and wanting to shut as he fell asleep.

After thirty minutes, his eyes opened slightly just to hear his phone vibrate, he reached out his hand to grab it to see the caller I.D. 'Unknown' it read. He answered the call.

"Hello?" Ron said:

"You were able to blow up the weapons cache. I hope you didn't suffer permanent damage."

"I'm fine. Just got into a scrap with Kim Possible. I don't assume you have a second mission or something happening overnight?" Ron said. He gets up, stretching his muscles and allowing the water to drip down from his body.

"If you want to… what I'm going to ask from you is insane."

"How can it get any more insane? Just curious."

"I may be a hacker with exceptional skills, but I need some things computer-wise."

"But it isn't the 'what', so much as where." Ron predicted.

"Yes, the headquarters of Global Justice will do the trick."

Ron perked up. The contact was talking about breaking into the GJ facility and stealing from them. "This does sound kinda messed up coming from you. How can we rob Global Justice without… I dunno… getting caught?!"

"When school begins Monday, I'll show you both my plan and a little something, as a show of good faith. How about I show you who I really am… and that we're on the same side?"

Ron blinked. The guy was willing to show his identity? He had tried to investigate on his own and drew several conclusions, but what would be the chances that he would be wrong? "You got something for me for the weekend then?"

"I'll leave that up to you. If you want to kill a couple of Jack Hench's men just for fun, I won't hold it against you. Matter of fact, he's hosting a party for his benefactors both legally and illegally… well 'allegedly' at least."

He gets out of the bath and wraps himself with a towel. "I don't suppose you have a way of getting me inside."

"You're going in as a benefactor. There's actually some people about your age who donated too. So you'll be going in as one of them."

"Ok… so I go in as a regular guy. No weapons or ways to escape. Fair enough."

"There might be some weapons there hidden in the estate. This won't be a problem for you, right?" He asked.

"No, it's ok. Guess I can handle this." Ron heads into one of the bedrooms where he would finally be able to rest on the bed instead of the couch as he usually did.

After being supplied with new bedroom sheets and pillows. He took it to his parents room. He would've went into his room, but his old bed became too small for him. Folding his hands behind his back, he looks up to the ceiling.

'Kim's definitely not happy about what happened. She'll do what she can to put me in jail. Oh man… there's even a guy wanting me to break into GJ and for what?! I gotta say, everything isn't turning out how I thought it would be. But this is pretty awesome.' What he knows right now is that Hench will be in his crosshairs, but not tonight.

Patience will be the key, as long as it is.

* * *

With Kim

The date had finished for Kim as she went to the front door of her house. She felt a breath of fresh air go through her. Not so much as the date but so much as coming back home. She had a nice time, but it was nice to come back. Even so there was something that couldn't escape her mind.

Her defeat.

She lost to a random guy with a sword, throwing stars and near-mastery of martial arts. It was as if she was fighting Shego, but more homicidal and masculine. Even so, this vigilante doesn't have super powers, training he has but that's about it. Before she could dwell on it any further, she felt a vibration coming from her pocket. It was her phone and it had a message sent to her from Monique, a video.

The video looked to be the new guy about to fight one of the bullies from the D Hall. Monique did say that Ron won the fight, and she believed her. But she never saw it for herself, how did he win?

As the video played, Ron showed the basic needs for combat. That's fine, he also shows technicality and some expertise. He's done something like this before. But it isn't enough to merit suspicion if he's a vigilante. Any person can fight just one guy, depending if they are capable enough. Ron was capable and came off with a win.

' _Those scumbags don't deserve mercy_.' That thought invaded her head while watching the video. She then wanted to write for a little while.

 _'I went to fight the vigilante… I lost. I lost so bad. I've faced a lot of bad guys, fought a lot of stuff that just wasn't normal. But this… this is different. After a date, I would probably think about whether I had a good time or not… I mean I did… but it just went back to 'him'. Now Monique sends me a video of Ron fighting a bully and winning. I'm actually surprised that he wasn't caught or sent to detention or something. I know she and Ron became friends already, but I should get to know him too. At least for Monique's sake, she can take care of herself but I don't want her getting hurt.'_

Feeling: Tired

To remedy her situation, she decided to take some rest. Maybe until morning she could check on the new guy and see how he likes it here. Maybe what's happening between him and Monique too… as a bonus.

Maybe a Saturday is just what she needs, once everyone gets back into the fray, she'll be ready too.


	9. A Walk In The Neighborhood

Chapter 9: A Walk In The Neighborhood

The flight had concluded, the plane had landed safe in Japan. The man that took Ron and moved him from the States still escorted the young child towards the unknown land.

Still holding his hand, the boy looked up. "Where are we going?" Curiosity still beguiled him as he traversed through unknown terrain. However his grief outweighed said curiosity. Even as he looked up, his eyes were red, tired and void of life. Deprived of whatever positivity that would come across him.

"A place where everyone shares the same pain and look out for each other." It has hours since they left the flight and traversed several mountains and bridges and they made it.

"Welcome to Yamanouchi."

Ron snapped out of his daydreaming, his hands resting behind his head with his legs crossed, an ankle dangles as he huffs a breath of relief. He opens his eyes and sat up from the bed, his body slowly moving. Starting from his toes, then his fingers, then his neck. Enough time for him to think about the ways of a ninja.

As a ninja, Ron followed a simple rule: do whatever it takes to get the job done. Ron wasn't blind to the complications that arose from these matters. He wasn't honor-bound like a samurai, even if he trained in some of their methods. Even so, having a code of honor can distinguish a murderer from an… anti-hero perhaps? If that's the case, does he have a code?

He gets up off of the bed and peeks out the window to see the sun rising. "Man, it's bright out." Ron mumbles. Even so, it was the accursed rumbling that he heard, that he felt… in his stomach. He looks at the door, rotating his shoulders and tilting his neck from side to side.

"Ehh." Ron sounded as he made his way to the kitchen to make a nice breakfast for himself. Before he could do that, his body fell to the floor with his hands and feet propping the rest of his body upwards. Counting aloud, he begun to do several push-ups to warm up. Today was going to be an active day… he probably would've traded it for a day on the couch with cartoons and snacks.

He takes a green apple from the fridge, hovers it over the sink and lets the cold water rush down onto the fruit. After that, he bit down with the crunch being the only thing heard in the house, the juicy flavor rushing through his mouth like a tidal wave, having his taste buds flooded with its taste.

He walks out of the door, while taking another bite. He knew what he had to do today. He tosses his apple in the air and catches it, then closing the door on his way out.

For starters, he needed some extra equipment, non lethal to be exact. Considering the fact that this random guy was saying that he's gonna have to break into Global Justice, a government building and steal from them? Couldn't there have been another person who had state of the art tech? That would require something suited to maybe mid to long range combat. That'll have to be figured out later.

Before walking around the neighborhood, he passed by a lovely house. Truly an interesting sight, who knew that the houses would look so… fancy. Even as his eyes darted from one window to the next, he noticed a pair of eyes that stared at him… and he stared back. A feeling of tension weighed upon him and perhaps upon the gazer. Those eyes… he knew exactly who was staring at him.

"Kim?" He muttered. She held no glare of hostility or suspicion, but rather interest. This… cold feeling gripped and it no doubt did the same to the redhead.

He looked away, prying his attention away from the windows and towards the street. But not before giving a greeting wave.

"Did she really have to look at me like that? Hmm… am I stalking her or is she stalking me?" He glanced at the redheads house once again.

"Definitely looks like me stalking her." He says as he quickens his pace away from the home. Sinking his teeth into the apple once more.

Kim had awakened to feel her soreness dissipating into nothing but memory. Stretching her arms high and yawning, she made her way to the window to see outside. The weather showing an overcast with winds blowing about.

From the corner of her eye, she saw a boy, they met in class, he was particularly close to Monique, he beat up a bully. "That's Ron…" He sees him exiting a house, locking its door with an apple in his hand. He takes a casual walk, doesn't seem to have a care in the world. She catches him glancing at her, yet he gives her a wave, merely saying "hi".

Reluctantly, she waved back. 'What the… I'm not some creep! I just woke up this morning and went to see what outside looked like! I didn't mean to stare at him' She gave out a sigh. 'It was just a coincidence.' She walked downstairs to see an empty living room followed by silence. 'Maybe they've slept in'. She thinks to herself as her family and their antics (mainly the tweebs) were nonexistent.

Kim heads outside to see Ron still walking away from the house. "Hey!" She calls to him. Seeing Ron turn around it seems he got the message.

"Oh hey. You're Monique's friend, Kim." He walked towards her. Recognizing his classmate.

'Monique's friend? Well that's a way to be noticed.' She thinks. She wasn't agitated or annoyed, just slightly disappointed.

"Uhh yeah." She says.

"You were also passing me notes during the class we had with Barkin?" He folded his hands, smirking.

"One, I was looking out for my friend and two, I have a boyfriend." Kim says.

"Ok. One; are you sure about that and two; does it really matter?" Ron asks. Of course he would taunt her… in a discreet way. "Sorry, I was just passing by, just got out for a nice walk." He pointed his thumb to the house down the block. Kim took notice and immediately made a conclusion.

"We're neighbors? How come I never seen you before?" She asks. Her tone was of suspicion.

"My parents, they… they travel a lot and I was sent to a boarding school."

"A boarding school in Japan?" Kim asks. The redhead remembers that little fact slip after hanging with Monique in Bueno Nacho. To her and Ron, it was seen as something interesting to learn.

"Yup! If you have the time to go there, you won't be disappointed, not with the Ron-man around!" He says proudly. Kim slightly chuckled at his cheery mood.

"Hey is it all right if I walked with you? I just need to get out for a bit." She suggested.

"Well you're welcome to, but… you might wanna…" He pointed to her outfit.

"What?" She looked down only to see that she was still in her pajamas, blushing heavily. "Uhh, I'll be right back!" She rushes back into her home and quickly changed into her outfit.

"Oh man! That was so embarrassing!" She says aloud to herself, quickly obtaining an appropriate outfit and trying it on. She, quietly but quickly, heads down to meet Ron halfway.

"Whew, sorry about that." She says.

"It's cool… I'm not in a rush." Ron remarked nonchalantly. He rotated his shoulders. "Ready to go?" He says as he walked forward.

"Sure." She followed suit, watching him close. 'He seems pretty calm. Well it **is** a Saturday, I'll give him that. Personality-wise, nothing speaks 'danger' just yet.'

"You said that you were out for a walk, right? Where are you going exactly?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno. Maybe I'll pick up some groceries, that's something I can do."

"Oh… ahh… ok." Kim says to the boy. Yet something seemed off about her, she had this dejected and withdrawn look on her face. Ron was quick to notice.

"You look like you had a rough night. You wanna talk about it?" Sporting a concerned look, Ron was hoping that Kim would somewhat buy into it. It's not to say Ron didn't care, but rather to get her spirits up, that same spirit that fired up a battlefield.

"It's nothing." She responds.

"It doesn't look like nothing. I heard you had a date, it wasn't that bad, was it?"

"No. It's just…" Kim's voice drowned out for awhile. "Have you ever felt helpless? Like something or someone just made you like this and even if you could've done something about it, it wasn't enough?"

Ron's face softened towards one of sympathy. "Yeah. You'd be surprised." The sound of screaming, the smell of blood, the sight of death… it all narrows down to the feeling of helplessness.

"Believe me when I tell you, Kim Possible and helpless wouldn't belong in the same sentence. I mean c'mon everyone calls you a hero and you get back up when you're knocked down right?" Words of encouragement flowed from Ron's voice, it was only a matter of time for it to set into the redhead's mind.

"Well… it's actually more than that."

"How?" He asked.

"This guy, he… he doesn't just fight to win, he kills them."

"Does he kill bad people or good people?"

"Well, bad people… I mean… he could've killed me but he didn't… why?"

"You said he kills bad people right? You're obviously not a bad person so maybe that's why. I mean you save the world, so you've a got a lot of respect… from the good guys at least."

Kim arched an eyebrow. "You think he's a good guy?" She folded her arms, with a careful look at him.

Taking another bite of his apple, he spoke again. "Not like you. I mean if he kills criminals, fine. As long as he's not killing innocent people. Pretty sure that's anti-hero stuff." Ron answers her. Being truthful to what he says

"Yeah, listen. I heard from Monique that you're a martial arts practitioner." Kim said to him.

Chuckling at her sentence, he smiled. "I dabble." He tilted his hand from side to side. "But yeah, I can handle myself." A short pause existed between them. "Why, you wanna do a little sparring?"

"You 'dabble'…" Kim says sarcastically. "Maybe I could teach you some new moves… if you want."

Ron laughed "I'd like that… maybe we do it right…" his sentence was interrupted when looking at six guys, wearing similar red uniforms. All of them had nasty looks on their faces.

"Not a fan club, right?" Ron asked.

"So not a fan club?" Kim answers. Both of them knew that they were henchmen.

"Hench sends his regards." One of the guys says.

Another guy walked closer towards the pair. A smug, face that he was as cocky as can be.

"Does this happen often?" Ron looked at the men surrounding them. His hands slowly balling into fists, an eye twitched, his mouth curling into an angered frown.

"Not 'this', but something that's like it. Does that make sense?"

"Good enough for me." Ron swung at the man who smirked at him with his free hand. Knocking the man back and wiping the smile from his face, he vaults up on top of him and lunges at the second guy to his right, but not before smashing his apple onto his head. Blindly, the man tried to strike him, but Ron catches his hand and stomps on his leg, breaking a bone and causing him to cry out in agony.

Kim punched a guy in his ribs twice, grabbed his head and smashed her knee onto his nose, breaking it and throwing him to the ground. She did an aerial cartwheel towards the next opponent and uppercuts him in the jaw. She follows up with a hook to his cheek and pushes him toward Ron… by accident. She didn't know he was there, somewhere in the corner of her mind, she believed that he would get away and let her deal with this on her own. Luckily, Ron threw his guy at her guy. They slammed into each other and fell to the ground.

"A little violent, don't you think?" Kim questions Ron's methods. Even if he did do martial arts, it's surprising that he would go to such length, although she wouldn't necessarily be a hypocrite, she's broken at least several bones during this course.

"This is important right now?!" Ron questions. A guy grabs Ron from the back a second guy was ready to attack him while he's under restraint. Ron smashes his head onto his nose. Freed from restraint, he grabbed the attacking man's fist and broke his arm, tossing him to the ground afterwards. The last guy for Ron, he started to pound at the goon's ribs, making him cough blood after several strikes. The goon then saw Ron running towards him, his knee flying towards him, breaking his jaw.

"A little, I mean you don't want to kill them, right?" Kim punches one of her enemies on the throat, while he held his throat, gasping in pain. She punched the guy in the stomach and swept him to the floor. She rolled towards her next opponent, jumps up to twist her body and kicks the man in the face. A right elbow to his jaw, a left hook and a push kick and to finish it off, a well placed roundhouse kick.

With every single enemy groaning and writhing on the ground, the pair took the time to catch their breath. They looked at each other. Ron broke the silence. "They're alive, aren't they?!"

Kim nodded her head. Still panting, both sees one of the guys trying to get up. Ron, still looking at Kim, pointed at the thug and then himself, saying that he wants to knock the guy out. Kim only responded by giving him a thumbs up. Ron then walked towards him and stomped on his skull.

"Sorry about this." Kim said.

"Don't worry about it." Ron looked to see his apple on the ground. "Well there goes my breakfast." Ron made a small smile come to his face.

"Uhh… why don't we find somewhere to eat? There might be a diner still serving breakfast.

Ron chuckles. "Taking me out? You know you got a boyfriend right?" A certain level of sarcasm and smugness at a certain time wouldn't hurt… would it?

"Don't get the wrong idea, it's just to say thanks for helping me out with these guys." She smiles back. "Besides, I didn't eat breakfast either, so it's a win-win."

"So you know a place?"

"Yup… and it's not Bueno Nacho." A 'matter-of-fact' tone was existent in the sentence.

"I take offense to that." Ron replied.

* * *

 **Hi Everyone, sorry it took me such a long time to post this next chapter. I have been super busy with RL and I had some writers block for awhile and everything has been piling up a bit. I'm gonna try to write some more chapters down in due time, so thanks for being patient.**


	10. First Chance to Prove

Chapter 10: First Chance to Prove

Calm yet upbeat music filled a diner, as the two heroes sat down. Ron looks over the menu, flipping the pages to examine each of the contents. Peeking over the menu, Ron sees that Kim hasn't bothered to even pick up her own.

"Guess you already know what you're getting?" Ron asked.

"I come here sometimes, when it's quiet and just to get away."

"Missions must be tough on you, especially if you're doing it alone."

"Well I'm not always alone, sometimes I get a little backup. My family actually helped out more than once."

Ron set down the menu and folded his hands, having the knuckles rest onto his forehead as he looked down. "Don't you get worried that the whole hero thing could hit close to home?"

"Always. But this isn't something that I…" Kim was interrupted by the waitress. Introducing herself, she took out a pen and paper and asked if they were ready to order.

"I'll just have the usual with iced tea." Kim said.

"I'll just have an egg and cheese breakfast sandwich with hot chocolate." Leaving the waitress to fetch the order. Ron looked back at Kim.

"I'm just eating light, that's all."

"If you wanted to order more, I wouldn't hold it against you." Kim said.

"Yeah, well I'll hold you up to that for next time." A time of sarcasm became apparent, with a smug smile placed on his face.

She slightly chuckled. "Ok… next time." She blew a strand of her hair back. "So uhh… thanks again for helping me with those guys. You made it less of a hassle."

"Anytime. Got to be honest, it was pretty awesome."

"You did pretty good out there, have you ever thought about doing something like this?"

Ron placed a finger on his chin. 'What is it that she's expected to hear?' He thinks. 'If I say I'm already doing it, it places me right on the spot, not literally but still. She's not stupid, I'm pretty sure I already compromised myself by helping fight those goons. If I say no, that indicates denial, that I've got something to hide… saying yes isn't good either. But let's see what she has to say.' With his thoughts coming to a conclusion, he spoke.

"What exactly do you have in mind?" Ron asks.

It was Kim's turn to think. 'He's got talent for this type of thing, fighting like that doesn't go unnoticed. Maybe I should keep a close eye on him. He could be a great asset to GJ.'

"This place I work for always has room for new recruits, maybe that's something to check out."

He smiled. "Well, I guess I've found a line of work… if I really want to do it though." Ron didn't want to let on his comfort in battle, similar to revealing a personality trait negative to other people's eyes. It doesn't end well.

After that, the waitress brought the both of them their respected orders. Thanking and smiling at her as they dug in.

"Well it's something to think about, y'know I actually thought that one of our classmates could be a big help in that."

Ron arched his eyebrow. "Really? Who?"

"His name is Felix and he's actually good with technology." Kim said, oblivious as to what she just did.

Ron was aware of an individual figuring out his identity and some of the clues that he ascertained was an experience in technology and knowledge and accessibility to the school grounds. Felix fit both of those criteria.

"So what happened? I mean did you say yes or no?" Ron asks.

"I mean, I already have someone who can do that stuff for me. I let him down easy, y'know without being a jerk about it. If he became some of the other agents tech expert, it'll drive him nuts. Trust me, I work with them."

'Felix was rejected to help out Kim, he finds a different vigilante and wants to help me with what I'm doing. He talked to me about Kim being diverted to a mission, keep her away from the real deal as I took care of it. If it really is Felix, then he's got talent for this sort of thing. Kim's been doing well so far with her hacker friend and the more the merrier.'

Time has passed with Kim and Ron finishing their meals. As Ron was about to take out his wallet, Kim stopped him. "Hey, don't worry about it, I roped you into this, it's only fair that I got this."

"Really?" Ron says.

"Yeah, it's ok. I don't mind." The redhead sweetly answers.

"Could I at least leave a tip for the waitress."

"Sure, if you want to." That's what Ron did at the least. Even after, as they left the diner a signature ring came from the redheads pocket.

She pointed her thumb away from him. "Sorry, I-I gotta take this." She says as she rushed away from him.

"Yeah sure, no problem." Ron went the opposite direction. Obviously he now has a prime suspect onto who knows his identity. Maybe he should pay him a visit. After Kim left to converse with her tech expert, Ron felt a vibrate in his pocket. It was the phone that his 'mystery' contact left him.

'Party tonight, formal, masquerade. Invitation's are needed. Target: Jack Hench.'

It vibrated again, this time showing the address. Showing up as the vigilante would compromise the mission, his only option is to show up as himself. With that matter resolved, Kim returns in a hurry.

"Sorry, I have to go, there's something I need to do."

"What? Like 'save the world' related?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, it's no big." She warmly chuckles. "So, I'll see you soon." She left the diner, leaving the blonde boy by himself.

"Yes… very soon." He then placed a tip upon the table. He left the diner afterwards, but not before pulling out his phone and rereading the message sent to him.

'An address in Upperton, not surprisingly that a snake like him lives there. Shouldn't be too much of a problem to head in. Steal a guy's invitation, go in, kill him and get out. But I can't go in with my swords and my vigilante outfit. Gotta do it the old fashioned way. Plus, it is a masquerade, so they'll have a full face mask. I wonder, why a masquerade?' That question will have to be answered later, but first things first… where can he get a suit?

Meanwhile:

The Director of Global Justice had a lot on her hands, with three of her agents temporarily out of commission because of a single vigilante, much stress has sowed itself onto her body. Even so, rumors were around claiming that same vigilante had fought Kim Possible and got the better of her.

Looking at the dossier containing reports about the vigilante, she didn't see anything that could narrow her search further. "Why didn't you kill them?" She muttered. Not that she wanted her agents dead, but if he was a killer like several witnesses such as Hoodie claimed, wouldn't it make sense if he did? This guy is hunting criminals, that was the woman's conclusion.

With Will Du on surveillance, watching over Hoodie and Kim Possible already fresh off of a mission. There was another conflict of interest that can be seen. Taking a sip of coffee, she sees a formal gathering of benefactors from a man of interest; Jack Hench. Resting her cheek on her hand, she sighed. 'Tonight, I'll get what I need from him. The case will be over with and I can deal with other matters.' Her attire already prepared, she got up from her desk while reaching for something necessary: a forged invite. Going in as Dr. Betty Director will definitely raise some heads, so a false I.D, a good disguise with the forged invitation should be enough.

Time passed as Ron went to a stakeout at Hench's estate. A look into the binoculars and he can see a lot of men outside, obviously guarding the place. "It won't be easy, I fight my way through, I'll set off an alarm." He said to no one in particular but himself.

He felt the vibrations in his pocket again. He takes out the phone and answers it.

"I take it you're enjoying the view?"

"Better in person than on a computer screen, believe it or not." Ron discreetly taunted him.

"Check your phone, you'll want to see it from there." An image popped up to have a birds eye view of the estate, the image moved to the right to look at the front door. Ron looked up into the sky with the binoculars and saw a drone, quietly chuckling at the predicament.

"It won't be easy breaking in yet. I don't suppose you have a suit and an invite?"

"A suit, yes? An invite… no." Ron's original plan was to break in quietly. How to go about it was the question.

"Hold on, I… see a car and one guy's inside. Young, blonde, fits your bill, you can take his."

Sighing, he went to agree with him. "And this is your idea of a plan…" he muttered. He jumps from the roof and onto a ledge, where he quickly pounces onto the ground, hiding in the vegetation leading to the vehicle. Seeing the guy, he steps out of the car. Pulling something from his pockets, he obtained a lighter and a pack of smokes.

"Why is this too easy?" Before the man could light it, Ron placed his arms around his neck and squeezed. The blonde boy tried to claw his way off of the ninja's grip as his eyes were slowly kidding shut, depriving himself of consciousness. The last thing he did before he faded, was reaching out to the sky, in a vain attempt to escape.

"It's ok, just shut up. Go to sleep." Taking the man's suit jacket, he feels for whatever he could use. To his luck, a cell phone, and an invitation. He moves forth to the passenger side of the car and sees a masquerade mask just sitting there. Quickly placing it on, he heads back to his latest victim, stripping him from his suit jacket, vest and dress shirt. To his fortune, he wore a plain white t shirt underneath. Using the clothing, following several materials, Ron tied the guy up and left him in the trunk.

"I got it, looks like the party's starting. Don't want to be late am I right?" He says to his contact, obviously via earpiece.

"Of course, let me know how it goes." The contact said.

"I'll be sure to tell you all about it…" Ron's mouth made a smirk. "Felix Renton." Then he hangs up. Arriving he sees two guards, one man had stuck his hand out.

"Invitation, sir."

"Of course." He handed the man a slip of paper. If something goes awry, there's plan B: slaughter the both of them and head in.

The other man opened the door for him. "Enjoy your evening."

Ron smiled at the guards. "I intend to, thank you." As he went in his smile faded not that it mattered since the mask covered his face. He looked at the inside and it showed quite the elegance. People wearing silver or golden masks. If Hench is participating in this, the last I want him wearing is a mask.' He sees a bar with a woman tending to it, cleaning out a glass and witnesses a woman already walking towards the bar, a brunette with long hair.

'Must be a wig'. He thought. Pacing his way toward the bar, he wanted to reach into his pocket and pay for the lady's drink and his own if need be. But maybe he didn't need to, maybe the service was complementary.

He took a seat next to the lady, looking at the bartender who smiled at his arrival.

"Hey, what can I get for you?" She asked. Her painted red fingernails shown, the bartender leans to face him.

"Surprise me, and a little something too for the lady." The brunette soared Ron a passing glance.

"You just met me and already you're treating me to a drink?" She questions, smiling at his bold advance.

Ron just shrugged his shoulders. "Why not?"

She turns towards him and crosses her legs. Seeing the silky and smooth feature on her body can captivate a man's lustful desires. "Mind if I ask what brought you here? See I'm here for business, but I'm not sure if I'm also here for pleasure."

"Well, I'm here for both." A pause went between the two, until Betty silenced it.

"You mix business with pleasure? Quite a scandalous and dangerous affair." She smiles at Ron.

"It is… but I like to take risks. Heh, even if I'm on business, I find talking to you to be a pleasure."

"Don't flatter yourself." She leans towards him.

"Here you are you two." The bartender intervenes. She gave a coy smile towards Ron and looked at Betty.

"Well, if that's the case, I'm sure you wouldn't mind if I… take you for a dance." Ron stretches his hand out, to which Betty paused for a moment, but accepted nevertheless. Standing up to meet his gaze she lead the way.

"I'd be delighted." As they made their way to the dance floor, their bodies became in close proximity.

"I don't believe I introduced myself properly, I am Beatrice." Of course Betty wouldn't use her real name, this is uncharted territory. The people around her could be the enemy, this potential suitor could be the enemy. Ron had the same thought, so there was one name that came to mind then.

"Well Beatrice…" Ron twirled her around and then brought her back close. "…my name is Dean."

"So tell me Dean, is there something you like to do outside of business?" What could Ron say… 'I like to be a vigilante and kill criminals?'

"I'm an outdoors type, honestly it doesn't matter, I just like to do things that keeps occupied." That is what came to be of Ron's answer.

"Well that's interesting. Have you ever tried something that excites you?" Dean (Ron) prepared Beatrice (Betty) for the dip, which was executed perfectly.

"Anything to get the blood pumping."

"As much as I would want to dance with you a little more, I would have to bid you adieu my dear." Slowly they pulled away from each other.

Looking away from the woman, Ron's mind was plagued with the identity of the woman. It was… at least until a voice came from his earpiece. "Try not to be fooled by that. That's the actual director of Global Justice."

Looking back in the direction of where the woman fled, she seemed to have disappeared. "About time you talked to me without a voice modulator." He mumbles, avoiding any attention that could be drawn to the crowd.

"Let's just focus on the mission, then I'll tell you everything. I have control over the cameras around here, ok you want a weapon head to the kitchen, I'll place the camera on a loop for a bit."

"Ok Wheels. Let's do this." Going inside, he quickly grabbed two utility knives from the table it rested on. Tucking it in his suit jacket, he slips into the crowd.

"Ron, looks like something's important going in the basement, looks like a trade-off."

"Of what?"

"There's a suitcase and… documents? Hench must be dealing with something, question is what?" Felix paid attention to the movements of the guards. They're waiting for someone, a buyer maybe? No… it had to be something else.

"I'll see what I can do." Walking his way, he heads outside to see two guards blocking his path.

"Sorry sir, this is a restricted area."

"Sorry about that, I was just getting some air." Before Ron could turn around, a sound of banging was heard.

'Wait a minute… was that…' Ron's mind tried to capture the scenario, it was a fight, but who? The guards looked back and then looked at the teenage boy.

"Sir we're gonna need you to come with us." One guard forcefully grabbed his wrist.

"Wait hold on… what's going on! Let go of me, let…" Ron 'pleaded' but instead he took out a knife and proceeded to slice the man's throat, then spins around to stab the second guy in the throat. "Can't we all be civilized? Obviously not." He then hid the bodies in the garden. Wiping the blood from the knife with the guards clothing. Knowing he's trespassing, he rushes to the back of the estate, only stopping until he saw a small window overlooking the basement.

From that, he saw unconscious guards beaten, the documents were taken and he saw glimpse of a woman walking away from the scene. "The director of GJ or Beatrice, or whoever she is."

There isn't much time, not until the bodies are found or the guards regain consciousness. If Ron's going to kill him now, it be best for him to get a move on. Looking up, there's a balcony, enough for him to reach. "Climbing in a suit, this tanks." Reaching the ledge he takes cover behind the door, seeing a guard walking outside.

'He's gonna turn around, when he does, I got him.' Ron waited for that moment, it wasn't too long at least, but when the guard saw him, Ron grabbed him by his shirt, stabbed his throat and threw him off the balcony. Turning around, he took out his second knife. Walking back inside the estate, he sees an empty room.

"Hey, it looks like Hench is coming your way." Two other guys are accompanying him, be ready." Felix said. It caused Ron to take the advantage to hide.

"C'mon you son of a bitch, I'm waiting right here." He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. The door creaks open to see the individuals of interest. He leaped from his hiding place and landed on top of Jack, he stabs one guy in the temple of his head. Another guy was about to punch Ron but he ducked and grabbed the attacking hand, stabbing it twice before slicing his neck. Ron went to the third guy, he crouched down, cutting the guard at his waist and stabbing him in the back twice, moves himself in front of the guard in pain and snaps his neck. Before Ron could do anything else, he get his body slam onto a bookshelf, he looked to see Jack Hench fighting back, Ron felt himself thrown onto the desk and his airways were constricted by two hands grabbing his throat. Seeing a whiskey bottle, Ron reaches for it and smashes it on Hench's face.

Jack staggered away from him, loosening the grip on his throat. Ron grabs him and slams him to the desk, punches him in the gut several times before dragging him to the ground. Even so, Hench used whatever remained of his strength to slam them onto the door, where the hinges broke and crashed onto the floor. The clamors of the partygoers became existent in their ears

Ron and Jack got back up, with the villain pressing him onto the banister of the stairwell. Seeing Jack taking out a pocket knife, Ron knees him in the stomach and disarms the knife, taking it for himself and stab him in the shoulder. Causing him to scream.

"What do you want from me?" He snarls in agony. Is this how he's going to die. Ron didn't bother to even answer him as he threw the man off of the ledge and sent him crashing to the table below, his body sliding off of the broken furniture and onto the ground.

With the people screaming and fleeing the scene, Ron took that as his cue to leave. Looking back, the blonde boy saw the director of GJ, however she hasn't looked to his direction yet. Looking at the broken desk where his and Hench's body were individually slammed, he sees a file with several papers scattered about. He takes the files and escapes by the balcony, walking away from the crime scene.

"His death should scramble any of his henchmen 'services' to his clients. IF he's dead." He muttered. Then he realized that Felix was still in the call.

"Police and paramedics are on their way, if anything, you got about ten, fifteen minutes to get outta there. How'd it go?"

"Hench is down, the director got away with the documents and I think I might have something that looks interesting." From the corner of his eye he sees the drone that Felix piloted.

"You got dirt on him." He said in a matter of fact statement.

"I'm going through this tonight, I'll let you know what I find tomorrow morning." Ron said.

"Wait… you mean… you mean that…" Felix eyes lit with excitement, with hope.

"Welcome aboard." A slight smile appeared on Ron's face. Felix was cheering at this decision, praising himself for being capable of this.


	11. Don't Let It Slide

Chapter 11: Don't Let It Slide

"A suspect who attended a party for Jack Hench is wanted. During the festivity, the suspect entered the party with another man's invite. While also assaulting Hench and murdering several guards. A man who was knocked unconscious, said the suspect got the drop on him while he was smoking."

The broadcast showed the man Ron strangled that evening. "I didn't see him, he was behind me… and he put me in a headlock. Next thing I know, I'm tied up in my trunk." Ron overheard the broadcast while brushing his teeth. 'What else was I suppose to do, ask for the invite and tell him to go away?'

"The suspect then attended the party and murdered several of Hench's bodyguards. Police say that the victims were identified with criminal backgrounds." A policeman was shown on screen.

"We can say that the suspect had no interest in harming the party attendants, but was more focused on targeting Hench and the men employed by him." Spitting and rinsing off his mouth. Ron smiled to look at his teeth. 'He's right on that one.' Ron thought.

"Eyewitnesses said that the suspect and Hench were in a fistfight, where Hench pulled out a knife and attempted to stab the suspect, but the knife was disarmed and stabbed into Hench's shoulder. It was then eyewitnesses saw Hench being thrown from a ledge. He is now being treated in a hospital with severe injuries." Ron turned off the TV and went into 'his' room. His phone vibrating, he picks it up to see the caller I.D.

"Felix, huh?" He murmurs. He answers the call. "I guess all in a days work huh?"

"Yeah I just… uhh… just wanted to make sure you're okay."

"Really?" Ron asked him.

"Sure, why wouldn't I be?" He asked.

Sitting down on the bed and closing. "You said you'd be my eyes and ears right? You said to me 'two guys are with Hench', but there were three."

"Sorry, I didn't see him until the last minute."

Ron lies down, spread eagle, giving out a sigh of relief. "If you want to be my eyes and ears, you gotta be more aware of this." Silence happened for the both of them, Ron shifting in the bed could be heard around the phone. "Is there anything to report, something going on?"

Felix cracked his knuckles, "Hold on, lemme check." Typing on his computer, he sees something worth Ron's interest. "Here's something, remember when you put Hoodie in the hospital?"

"Yeah, I threw her off of a building. Why, what happened?" He looks outside the window to witness the darkened skies.

"She escaped the hospital, prior to Jack being admitted. Some staff members were hurt but nothing too serious. Camera's show she was in a crazed state. Saying that no one can keep her safe, you're coming for her, stuff like that. Kim went to investigate, but nothing came up in the search."

"We'll start it tomorrow morning, at this point, Hoodie will be in hiding. She'll want to leave the city because of me. She's still around, so we can wait."

"Alright man, I'll see you in the morning." The call disconnected.

Ron raised a brow. 'Crazed state? She's panicking, after killing her friends, I made her terrified. Kim couldn't find her and some of the GJ agents are recovering after what I did.' He covered his face with his palms. "Why did it have to be this complicated?" He groaned. He jolted up after feeling a vibration on his chest.

"Gah! Another call! Who…" His mood brightened a bit after looking at the caller I.D. "Hey Monique, what's going on?"

"Hey Ron. Sorry, I couldn't really sleep. Thought I could talk to someone to pass the time." She folded her legs while sitting on her bed. "I heard you and Kim were hanging out and got jumped by a couple guys."

"Hehe. Don't worry about that, we're both fine. Not a scratch on us either, you should see the other guys."

"Yeah, I guess. But then she took you out for a little bit?" Monique adjusted herself, sitting upright.

"We just had breakfast, my apple was no more good after the fight. She treated me, so I guess it was a thank you."

"Okay, just checking. It's just that things got a little more interesting, right at the time you showed up at the school."

"Aww c'mon, I didn't do most of it. You think I'm some sort of…" His words were muffled over the phone. As he performed a 'certain' action. "… bad luck magnet or something?" He finished his sentence.

"What was that?" She had a coy smile on her face.

"Nothing, I just took my shirt off."

Monique's face lit, not in lust to be precise, but surprise. "You took your shirt off?! Why are you telling me this?"

"I dunno, I just wanna leave something to your imagination before I go. S'gonna be a long day tomorrow. See ya later Mon."

"Ok Ron, I'll let ya go. Good night." She hung up the phone. Leaving Ron to his thoughts.

'I need a more permanent solution, hospitalizing them isn't enough. Obviously Hench needs to go down, but I got a little personal thing with Hoodie. I even have Kim hunting me down and ready to lock me up. Man, this isn't as easy as I thought it would be.'

Dwelling on this further only deprives him of rest. So as his eyes closed, his mind drew blank, for now.

Kim was running ragged all night, ranging from being on a Hoodie manhunt and investigating Jack Hench being assaulted in his home during a party. Everything falls into one suspect; the vigilante… again. What is that sadistic bastard trying to prove? Why prey on Hoodie and Jack. Hoodie may be a criminal, but it's only a petty theft, albeit some charges pertaining to assault and kidnapping. It just seems odd to her, there's a puzzle missing, but what was it?

Jack Hench on the other hand is a criminal through and through, having the people see him as a businessman, anyone buying his BS may as well be his upcoming victims or accessory, depending on the context. Investigations haven't even shown progression, whether by witnesses randomly 'disappearing' or lack of evidence. The law hadn't cracked down on him yet, and even when it was Kim's mission for several months there was barely anything to tag him with.

She sighed wondering how long will the madness continue. Slipping off her shoes and flopping on her bed, the redhead's body became enticed with the warmth of the blankets and the comforts of the mattress. Her phone rang and she slightly growled at the timing. The caller I.D was of course Josh, she didn't want to answer due to her exhaustion, but she wanted to say something to him, to make sure she wasn't stonewalling him. So she wrote a text.

'Sorry Joshie, The Director had me all over town, I'll call you in the morning, yea' She sent the message and placed the phone on the nightstand. "Ugh, this is so exhausting." She mumbles to herself. She's been doing all of these missions on her own for years, not much call for partners, at least. Monique, her mother, even her little brothers took part. She wouldn't want them to participate now, especially with a hack and slashing maniac on the loose.

She needed something… no someone to help out. Someone outside of her family, capable of protecting themselves yet not afraid of getting their hands dirty. A mission was coming tomorrow, she knows it. Drakken and Shego might make a move soon. The missions with Hench were becoming stagnant and repetitive for awhile, honestly a part of her felt grateful, not for his hospitalization, but rather a different case can be investigated. She turned her head to the window. "Maybe he would help." She muttered before she fell asleep.

The sun rose for Middleton, and a young heroine cocooned in her blankets awakened at the sound of her Kimmunicator ringing, wriggling an arm free, her hand dancing on the night stand, feeling the device, she grabs it and brings it to her face.

"Mmm… hey Wade, what's the sitch?" Not completely awake, her eyes were closing and opening, drifting back to sleep and waking up. 'This is torture.' She thought.

"Drakken and Shego, they're going to be on the move soon. Phone records say they're going to start the whole 'take over the world' thing today."

"When?" She asked.

"After school. At least somewhere around 5."

"What, they need a schedule to take over the world now?" She joked. Sitting up from her bed, stretches her arms and legs.

"Drakken does apparently." Wade indulged her.

"Look I might bring a new person along, if that's ok." Kim got a nod from Wade, then ends the call with a push of a button. She got up to change out of her pajamas and onto her everyday clothes.

"Kimmie, breakfast is ready." Her mother called out to her. As she looked at the window, she could've sworn that a front door was closing, with someone entering the house. Why is it that she paid attention to that house in particular. It was Ron's.

"Wonder what he was up to?" She muttered. Before she could head down, she began to take her diary and write.

'Today won't be a stagnant day. I mean last week wasn't the same old stuff. Guess I have that vigilante to thank. But today, it's back to the classic grind for a change, me against Drakken and Shego. Easy as pie and nostalgic right? But after running this manhunt for Hoodie and investigating Jack Hench's place. I dunno, I think it's getting boring. Also, I think I might need backup, that isn't team impossible or Will Du or any of my family and known friends. I mean Ron is a friend, but he's not well known, at least not yet. Plus he can handle himself, that counts for a lot. I want to ask him if he wants to go on a mission with me, I just hope he wants to help out. I saw him going into his house, Well I saw his door close. But I'm sure it was him, what was he doing out so early in the morning? With that, the attacks and the vigilante, things aren't as simple as before.'

Feeling: Puzzled and Suspicious

Ron had left early in the morning to check on Bueno Nacho, hopefully there wasn't another scumbag bothering Ned. There shouldn't be, but leaving things to chance really isn't a comfort. But he got a text from Felix earlier.

'She's on the move, I'll keep you updated.'

Obviously Kim and Monique are going to be out this early. He already deduced what Felix meant. With a hood, pouches and a backpack. He made his way through the fast food restaurant. But he saw something catching his eye. The mop and the mop bucket lied on the floor, the water contents spilling and soaking the floor and making its way under the tables and chairs. Straws, cups and lids also spread across the floor. There was a hand he saw, from the edge of the counter. Ron swore he saw the hand move.

He ran inside to look and see for himself. Going to the other side of the counter, Ron sees Ned, beaten and barely conscious. His shirt had slight tears and wrinkles, signs of grabbing. His lip was bleeding, and a bruise was on his cheek.

"Ned? Ned, can you hear me, Ned?!" He looked around to see the cash register was open and the cash was taken.

"R-Ron?" Ned asked.

"Take it easy, I'm here. Tell me who did this?" He looked around, to see if the crooks were still there.

"Hoodie came by… grabbed me, ripped my shirt, slapped me and… kissed me. Never imagined my first kiss to be like this man."

A feeling of rage flooded his mind. His eyes widened and his hands shook. He let that bitch live, told her to not hurt Ned or set foot in Bueno Nacho again. His words unheeded, fallen upon deaf ears, the carelessness, the ignorance. He spared her life, only to let the innocent kid get hurt again. He was beaten, defiled and robbed.

"I'm gonna… I'm gonna" He cursed under his breath. That was when he saw Ned tense up and look somewhere else, behind Ron specifically. Ron rolled away, charged at the assailant and tackled her to the counter, causing her to fall onto the other side.

"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" He roared at her, as she tried to get up and retrieve her weapon, a baseball bat. As she grabbed it, Hoodie tried to get up, only for Ron to do a push kick and knock her back to the ground. His left hand grabbed the back of her neck, his right grabbed her torso. Ron threw her at the wall. She sat herself up, only to meet a boot kicking her right in the face, being crushed between the blonde boy's foot and the wall. With a burst of speed, she made a beeline for the exit.

"GET BACK HERE!" He said as he gave chase. They didn't go far as Ron grabbed her, his arms wrapping around her waist, he lifted her up and slammed her to the pavement. Mounting on top of her, Ron punched her in the face, his left hand covering her mouth, his nails digging into her cheeks. His right hand, patted her down to find something, he found a small plastic bag. He searched another pocket and found car keys. Feeling her squirm, his grip on her tightened.

He pressed a button and found a silver car. Ron punched Hoodie unconscious and put her into the trunk of the car. Getting into the drivers seat, he contacts Felix.

"Wheels, I need you to get an ambulance at Bueno Nacho, Ned needs a doctor! HURRY!" He said as he turned the keys to the ignition and quickly left the premises. As Ron drove in a certain direction, it left him to his conflicted thoughts.

'I've been too soft, I didn't go for the kill… I could've. No more games, I have to do it… I have to.'

"Dammit. Just… AHHH!" He slammed his hands on the steering wheel, sometimes hitting the horn, making it honk. His breathing was rough, flaring.

"Calm down, keep it together, man. Killing them just like that… it's time to prove a point. So, next stop… Middleton Hospital."

Arriving at the hospital, Ron contacted Felix. "Hey, I have a favor to ask. Look I'm looking for Jack Hench, do you have any idea where he…" Ron stopped to see a couple of guards overlooking a certain floor, obviously in suits.

"Never mind." He shot the rappel towards the window, crashing through the window, he kicked one guy in the face, leaving him to crash onto the door. A second guy was about to attack, he was about to do a right jab, but Ron countered by using his right hand to grab his wrist and used his left elbow to strike his chest and threw him onto a wall. Ron grabbed Hench by the back of his neck. Before more guards could enter the room, Ron threw Hench out of the window and jumped after him. Grabbing him, he used the rappel to get himself and that waste of a human to safety. Grabbing Hench again, he slammed his face onto the trunk of the car, opened it and shoved him in along with a still unconscious Hoodie.

Quickly driving away from the premises, he had to drive away from the main roads and into the woods. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes. "Here we go." He mumbles as he gets out of the car with his sword and a small knife in each hand, he opens the trunk of the car.

"Get up!" Ron snarls at the pair. Dragging each of them out of the car, he slashes both of their knees. Causing them to hiss in pain.

"Hi, you guys uhh… we had a little run-in." He said through a cheerful facade. "Y'know, I break in your homes, I kill some of your friends and send you to the hospital. Yikes that's ahh pretty much a bad way to start isn't it?"

"You son of a bitch! You think you can…" Jack hollered at him, but he was met with a swift kick to his face. Followed by a crushing feeling in his jaw… Ron stomped on it. The blonde boy then presses his knee onto his throat.

"Shut up." He says. "You think I'm some red headed softie, I'm not. You want to live a bit longer, you're gonna do as I say. Otherwise, I'll just leave the both of you here with your throats slit. Play along and one of us will still be breathing." Hench complied, fearing for his life. Seeing this made Ron stand up and let Hench cough and try to breathe.

"Now, you two were my targets, one for business reasons, another personal. Blah blah blah… now one of you wronged me and took advantage of my generosity one day. The other… well I still have a job to do, so here's what we're gonna do." Ron drops the small knife. "One of us will be leaving here alive, but only if… one of you… kills the other."

Seeing the criminals look at him, Ron gave them a glare indicating that he was serious. "Don't make me wait for long. I have stuff to do." He leans onto the car, crossing his arms.

Hoodie was the first to grab the knife, she stabbed Hench in the shoulder, reopening the stitches from the previous wounds, both of them were on their knees, on at least one of them. Jack reached for Hoodie's wounded knee and squeezed it tight causing her to fall back. Jack mounts her, grabbing the knife and stabbing her in the hip. Hench then, grabs her by the throat and strangles her. Slowly, life drained from her eyes as she kept kicking the ground, trying to slip away. Her thrashing stopped to a point where she couldn't move. Then a snap was heard, the snapping of a neck no less. It was clear, Jack Hench killed Hoodie.

"Is this what you want you sick fuck?!" Jack exclaimed.

"Yes." Ron answered. He kicked Hench in the face again and dragged him to the car.

"I know I said someone was going to live. But here's the thing, I said _one_ of _us_ will live. 'Us' includes myself, meaning one out of three. Plus you'll live, just a _bit longer_."

"What are you going to me?" Hench says groggily.

"I'm gonna drop you off somewhere and then… I'm gonna prove a point. She'll come for you, don't worry. Actually freak out, because she won't get to you in time. Hope you had a good breakfast, cause I'm not cooking for two. So try to get some sleep, meditate or something… kay bye." He places him at a certain location, still locked in the car and went home.

As he went inside the house, he removes some of his ninja gear, knowing that he's gonna head to school soon. As he got dressed in his everyday clothes, a knock on his door was heard.

"Ron, it's Kim. Is everything alright?"


	12. Powder Keg

Chapter 12: Powder Keg

"Ron, it's Kim. Is everything alright?" Kim said over the door.

Clearing his throat, he opened the door. "Ah… Yeah, I'm good… I just got back from a jog." He said. He could see that Kim was taking a look at something.

"You wear gloves for jogging?" She folds her arms and eyes them attentively.

"Well not for normal jogging, but rather for free-running." He says. "Is there something I can help you with? I mean I could whip us up something to eat."

"No, no, I'm good. Actually I do need a favor." Kim says. Her voice was drained of confidence and filled with uncertainty. Would it really be right to ask him, considering what happened last time?

To hell with it, they cannot blame her for trying.

"I need someone to help me out on a mission. Just a regular mission, nothing special." She looked away from him.

"Why come to me? Don't you have other people who can help?" He raised an eyebrow.

"That's just it… some things happened and… some of them can't do it. Some of my workers are still recovering. Honestly, I really need you to help me out on this."

Ron sighed. "Ok, I guess I can help out."

"Thanks Ron." Kim said. She placed her hands on his shoulders while smiling. "You don't know how much this'll help."

"Sure, as long as it's nothing special. We'll… make it through, right?" Ron said, feigning worry.

"Funny, where was all of that bravado when we fought those guys when we went out?" She smirked.

"Pretty different KP, I mean there's still a lot of stuff that I don't know about." He scratches his head. Ron spoke something of a truth, how was he to know what Kim's missions were like? He knew his type of mission, but they were rather… messier.

"GJ will take us after school and I'll explain from there." She answered. Yet her mind wandered onto another subject. "KP?" She asked. At the moment, she was confused by the alias.

"Yeah, KP. Short for Kim Possible. If you don't want me to call you that, it's…"

"No, no I get it." She says to him. 'And I feel like an idiot.' A statement emanating in her mind.

"So school's about to start soon, I'll be out in a minute." He said as he turned his back.

"Really, we could walk to it if you want." Kim added. She pointed her thumb towards the direction of the school.

"Uhh… sorry, there's some things I need to take care of first, I'll catch up later on." Ron turned around and took off his gloves.

"Alright, I'll see you soon." Kim closed the door and walked away from the house, leaving Ron by his lonesome. His hands trembled and balled into a fist.

He was panicked. For the gloves had the smell of blood on them. 'After what happened, I thought she would've sniffed it out by now. This mission's gonna put me in her crosshairs more than ever. I won't die by those creeps, much less get beaten by them. Kim probably would feel the same way about this in my position, she has pride. This is just…' Before his mind could continue further, he felt his phone vibrate, his contact: Felix.

A text was left for him. 'Yo, the cafeteria is serving breakfast sandwiches, you coming or what?'

Ron replied 'I'm coming'. Obviously Felix got his recent message and wants to talk in person. He wouldn't discuss it over the phone… smart kid. Also he knew something else; he had to leave Hench in the car, which could be found by police or people who are 'curious' about it. He sighs, believing he'll get away… again.

Walking towards the school would be moody for him.

* * *

As Kim approached the school, she felt relieved. Things were going her way for once; no stagnant missions, a partner she could actually get along with, and a meet-up with Josh. Today can probably exorcise the hectic timing of stuff that's happening.

To her luck, Josh was in front of her, his back leaning against the wall, yawning while covering his mouth and holding a water bottle in his other hand.

"Hey. Sorry I didn't call back." Kim said approaching him.

Josh's brow arched at the sound of the voice. "Hmm?" Was the sound emanating from his mouth. "Hey Kim. Look, don't worry about it. I know you're saving the world, no big deal." He leaned away from the wall. "So what's new?"

"Another mission, except that…" Should she tell him? Does she say that Ron is her partner for this? To see how it looks, she could've asked Monique, or one of her parents. Hell, she could try Bonnie, not that she wanted to, but this random guy who shows up at their school. This guy can fight, take on henchmen and bullies and he seemed okay. But Ron is barely known to her, yet he's made friends with Monique and Felix. He was also a 'wingman' for the two. Even the conversations the two had were pleasant, with enough chuckling and giggling to indicate 'something'.

'Best to leave it out, it's just one mission.' Kim thought. "…It's not gonna be the same stuff I've been doing for months." She says.

"No, I get it. It's just… why don't I help… how bad could it be?" Josh suggested. Kim tried to hold back a stifle, she didn't see Josh as strong or wimpy, the mission wasn't in his field.

"It's bad. Exploding golf balls, evil lairs with self-destruct buttons, maniacs and psychos in one room wanting to kill you. It's a mess." Kim remarked, hoping to discourage him from making this decision.

"Well… ok just be careful. Hey, will you be free tonight?" He asked.

"Asking me out?" She smiled coyly.

"If you want to." He scratched the back of his head.

"I guess we could make it happen, let's say at seven?" Kim suggested.

"It's a deal." Josh said. As that conversation ended, the two saw Ron heading into the cafeteria. He may look calm, however the look only masked his distraught. He passed by without even saying hi.

* * *

In the cafeteria, Ron tried to find Felix. Shouldn't be a problem for him, right? He sees Felix and sits with him. "How is he?" Ron asked. He was inquiring about Ned, after his injuries and the unfortunate attack that happened to him.

"He's ok, docs are patching him up and phone records show that his parents know and they're on their way. I also sent a drone to catch up with you and monitor Jack." Felix took a sip of his drink. "I think we can both agree that you did what had to be done. I just hope he's alright."

"I had to let Jack live a little longer. He's still in the car, locked in the trunk. I want to kill him, but not like the Fashionistas, he has something. I want it."

Felix shook his head. "Ron, what does he have? GJ's been on his case for a while, even without that, they can link him to Hoodie's murder. His DNA was there, they can put him on the spot."

"That's the thing… they got to something, a cargo manifest. It was in his estate during the attack. I don't know what was on it, or where it was going. But… I can't ignore it, much less leave it to Red." He pinches the Bridge of his nose.

"You want Jack alive, find out what he knows and then kill him, right?" Felix's hypothesis caused Ron to nod his head. "What's next right now?"

"Kim asked me to do a mission with her. Something about a blue scientist and a green mercenary."

"Drakken and Shego?" Felix questioned. "Looks like something interesting. The vigilante and Ron can't be in the different places. But what if, the vigilante just unexpectedly showed up?"

"Why would I show up out of the blue like that? Kim can put two and two together, she isn't stupid."

"The vigilante is hunting Jack Hench, but Ron's gonna be on a mission. Jack was somehow moved to the lair because of a contract assigned to a… 'fixer'." Ron's brow arched. Felix can do that type of stuff? "He's in the lair, guards watch him, Hench has nowhere to go, you can target him however you want. But look… you said it yourself, Kim's not dumb. One wrong move… and she'll know. If anything, she didn't just ask you because you could defend yourself… she's trying to deduce if you're the vigilante."

Ron listened attentively, of course this had to happen. Felix had a point, Ron and the 'vigilante' happened across Middleton at the same time, if someone like Felix can deduce this… the same can be said for Kim or maybe the agency she works for… if Felix didn't cover his tracks.

"I won't hide from her for long, you can count on that." As Ron said that sentence, a certain gossiper came out of nowhere.

"Hey guys, whatcha doin'?" Monique said as she popped behind Ron. "I couldn't help but hear that you…" she patted Ron's shoulders. "… are gonna play hero with my bestie." A smile was on her face when she said this.

Ron had to say something, if she overheard the 'important' part. He would fear rejection more, compared to exposure. "Uh… yeah. Just a little nervous… that's all."

"Please, from what I've heard, you can take it." Ron felt a light punch on the shoulder.

"Y-Yeah… I guess you're right. Quick question… do you know about the vigilante… y'know the new one?" He asked.

"Heard the guy kills bad guys. I mean it's not an easy choice to make, but in some ways, Kim's in less of a funk. I mean, she's still focused, but that's just her. Because of him, Bueno Nacho has a better atmosphere, a guy called Jack is getting the stuffing beaten out of him and I… I think he'll be doing more than that."

Ron eyes were downcast "It's okay if you're scared of him… I get it. He kills."

"Yeah, it scares me a little… but I know some of them and they're horrible, disgusting people." She says. As the bell rang, they left the cafeteria, Ron and Monique were walking together to the classroom.

"Hey, I almost forgot to ask, but tomorrow's gonna be another wrestling night, you in?"

"Sure… I'd like that." Ron said. As they were about to enter the room. A brash female pushed herself in between the two.

"Ugh, can you two be any slower? Get a room!" She says while fluffing her hair. Ron and Monique's eyes shot daggers at her; but it didn't matter to her.

"Screw off Bonnie, we don't have time for this." Monique said. She folded her arms, standing next to Ron whose eyes didn't escape her.

His eyes showed contempt, his right hand, particularly his middle finger and thumb just twitched. He could also feel someone behind him, a hunk of meat and nothing else.

"Sorry losers, but you'll have to get on our level." This guy, what was his name again? Yes… it was Brick Flagg, as if it matters.

Brick noticed the glare Ron made. "Take a look babe, he actually wants to stand up for himself. Look, how bout this… first one's…" Before he could say 'free', Ron grabbed him by the shirt and slammed him towards the wall. His left forearm pressed itself on Brick's neck and he placed enough pressure to choke the jock.

"What? You said first ones free." He squeezed harder. Then he made his hand into a fist, gently implanting it onto his rib and twisting it, hoping to give him at least a minor discomfort… it worked. "Now, I think you owe us a little apology. I really don't care, but I feel Monique should at least have that. I mean c'mon, you can't defend yourself from a loser and you can't even defend your girlfriends honor."

"Excuse me?!" Bonnie said, clenching her fists.

"It's ok, you're excused." Ron looked back at the brunette. "Ok five seconds before I throw you out the window, I'll help count. One… two…"Before Ron could reach the next number, Brick spoke.

"Ok, I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by it." Brick raised his hands. Ron let go of his grip and use his right hand to pat Brick's left shoulder.

"Thanks man." Ron had a casual tone in his voice when he said the statement. He walked nonchalantly to his desk, pulling out his books and notes. Many of the students who witnessed the infraction were left in shock and disbelief. Just as Mr. Barkin was about to come in, Brick with a stubborn look on his face flops on the chair and looks away. Bonnie went to desk as well, with a scowl on her face, eyes glued onto the new kid.

What he did isn't gonna slide, not by a longshot.

* * *

After class was finished, Ron and Kim went into the gym… usually cheerleading practice would take place there… but not today.

"So is there a reason why you brought me here?" Ron asked.

"Listen, I'm taking you on a mission, I need to know if you're ready. Why don't we have a little spar? Considering that you know a thing or two about martial arts, it'll be good for both of us." Kim stood in front of Ron in a distance and did a bow.

Ron was about to do a different salute with his fingers, but quickly refrained from it and gave a generic bow, similar to the redhead's. "Ok."

Both walked towards each other, reminding themselves that this isn't a battlefield, they're not in serious combat, not yet.

Kim used her left leg to kick Ron's right leg, she then stepped back and did a head kick, which Ron ducked. But not after receiving a backhanded punch from her right hand.

Kim was about to follow up with a left hook, but Ron countered by using his hands to deal two body blows, affecting the ribs. He pressed Kim into a clinching position, using his weight to see if he could take her down.

Ron was wrong, Kim used his momentum against him, threw one of her legs on top of his shoulder, grabbing his arm and falling to the ground. Ron instantly knew that she could've placed him in an arm bar. But she didn't… her grip loosened and she rolled away.

Ron sat himself up and did a sweep kick that Kim blocked, but it caused her to lose balance. They both got back up.

"Y'know, there's this girl I know." Ron chuckled. "She taught me the same move you did, I actually wanted to do that." He rotated his shoulders and tilted his head from side to side.

"The arm bar?" Kim asked. "Heh, yeah you should've watched out for it."

"You should've kept your grip." Ron verbally countered. "Should we still keep going or… are we done?"

"Not yet. You still have to show me that you're ready." She said.

"Fair enough." Ron prepared for the second round.

Ron faked a push kick with his left leg and instead followed with his right. Kim was about to tackle him, but instead he tripped her and misdirected her attack. Kim did a forward cartwheel. Ron twisted his body 540 degrees and performed a hook kick, which hit its mark. He then threw his body at her, he fell to the ground with Kim on top for a couple of seconds, but they rolled to a point where the roles were reversed. One forearm on her neck and his left hand showing a fist, it indicated a victory.

"Give up?" She asked.

"Mmm…" was the sound Kim gave out. "Ok, I think you're ready." Kim and Ron were in a half-guard position. To show that Kim could get out of it, she threw her free leg onto his neck. Ron had grabbed the leg with his left hand, whereas Kim took her chance to trap the left hand by grabbing it. Twisting her body to a point where she mounted him.

"Just wanted to show you that I could've gotten out of that no problem. Her elbows dug onto Ron's shoulders as she leaned closer to meet his eyes.

Ron's mind was adrift. A pretty girl on top of him, their lower bodies touching each other, her warm smile melting the remnants of his mind. To hold her in his arms, allow his hands to touch her thighs and make its way to her curvy, lively hips. No! He had to focus damn it! Ron pushed those thoughts from his mind.

He sat up, making Kim get off of him and they walked towards the exit, where a VTOL awaited for them.

"Ready?" Kim asked. Looking at him.

"As I'll ever be." Ron answered as he cleared his throat.


	13. It Was Going So Well

Chapter 13: It Was Going So Well

Kim and Ron arrived in the VTOL, taking their individual seats across from one another. The pilot was preparing the bird to take off.

"Hope you don't get airsick." Kim said.

"You wish." Was Ron's response. Even if those two were friendly, that would change in a heartbeat. That wouldn't be just a prediction, but a fact. The aircraft had taken of and began to move forward. In the air, both of them saw how people at ground level were reduced to ants.

It was then someone came on screen. "Good afternoon, Agent Possible." She said. "I trust everything's fine on your end?" She asked. It was the Director of Global Justice herself.

Ron remembered, he shared a dance with her, under the guise of "Dean". 'She won't recognize me. Hopefully.'

"Yes ma'am, we are ready to go through with the mission."

"Drakken and Shego have set up their base of operations here." The screen transitioned to a map, a red dot pinged and marked the location. It then zoomed in to a lair. "So far, surveillance show moderate security. Vehicles have been seen going in and out, moving materials, possibly for their doomsday device."

Ron raised his hand. "Umm… Miss, I have a question. What exactly are we up against?" He says. 'Of course I know who I'm after, but it's best to play the rookie, for now.' Kim then answered his question.

"Just regular bad guys, with power staves. Something we handled before. Listen, you don't have to fight Shego, you can leave her to me." The redhead states.

"I mean what can I expect, from her at least?"

"Well there's her sarcasm, her plasma hands… that's as much as I can say right now." She leaned back with her arms folded.

"It seems that you have another partner on your hands, Miss Possible. Care to explain?"

"Oh! Uhh… this is a friend of mine, he goes to my school… he's capable of whatever you can throw at him." Kim answers. She was reprimanded a couple of times for having someone other than a GJ agent assist her in this endeavor. Even so, as long as the mission is a success… she'll have less of an earful.

"Fine… the objective is to destroy the device, along with the lair. Ensure Drakken and Shego's capture as well, if at all possible. You will be arriving in the drop zone in about ten minutes. Get what you need and good luck." The transmission ended.

Ron got up from his seat and walked away from Kim. "Where are you going?" She asked.

"To get what I need, I'll be back." He responded. His right hand touching his left shoulder as it rotates. 'Can't go in with a sword, mainly because I don't have one on me. Shuriken and custom made smoke bombs are out of the picture, guess I'll have to make due with what's here.' He thought.

Rummaging through the equipment laid out for him. He found some things useful. A pair of escrima sticks, smoke grenades created by GJ of course, and a copy of Kim's rappel. He placed on one of the Global Justice uniforms, bearing forearm and shin protectors. To top it all off, there's a mask, able to conceal his identity. Placing it on, he grips the escrima, his eyes remembering distant days.

FLASHBACK

 _Mom and Dad were gone… there wasn't anything he could do to change that. He didn't even get the chance to say goodbye, he was just taken from his home and into this school whose beauty escaped the boys eyes._

 _His eyes were cast down onto his knees, the man ensured that he was settled in, even so… this wasn't his home. It certainly didn't feel like it. It can be the most brightest day anyone can experience, a gentle breeze, the breath of crisp air… and it would be nothing but a feeling of gloom in its place. He could see two people fighting, about his age, but they weren't fighting out of anger, rather they were…practicing. Bowing their heads, they began, leaving Ron to look at them._

 _Finishing up, they bowed their heads. The blonde boy caught their eye, his casting upward at them. "Why were you two fighting?" Ron mumbles._

 _The boy looked at him. "We're not fighting, we're training, to become Ninja's!" He exclaimed with pride._

 _Ron remembered seeing some ninja movies, some were based on revenge on a clan, finding a new purpose, empowerment, depending on the context. They can even do cool flips and moves. Considering he has nowhere else to go or do, it appealed to him._

 _"We have a school here that can teach us how." The girl said._

 _"Yeah, have you thought about being one?!" The boy asked._

 _Ron shook his head. "No… but I'd like to."_

 _The girl gave him a smile. Reaching out her hand to him. "I'm Yori." She introduced herself._

 _The boy was next. "I'm Hirotaka."_

 _Ron reluctantly took Yori's hand. "My name is Ron."_

 _FLASHBACK ENDS_

'It wasn't easy opening up to you guys, but somehow it worked.' He looked at his grip on the escrima stick in his right hand. A bit loose, he tightened it for a second, then sheathed it.

"Hey, you okay?" The redhead asked. She sees the zoned out look in his eyes, as if he's reminiscing about something that happened in the past. It's still not enough evidence to conclude if he was a vigilante or not. For all she knows, Ron could be nervous or remembering his training in self-defense.

"Yeah, I'm ok. Hey, are we going in loud or do we take them by surprise?" He asked.

"Well… they pretty much expect me, so we won't have the element of surprise for long."

'How long have you been doing this?' Ron thought.

Kim stood up. "Ready?" A hatch was opening and violent winds blew upon them, it was time to jump. Walking close to her, a cold, shaking feeling in his hands, he sighed. "Yeah, lets go." Placing on a mask to conceal his identity shortly after.

A hatch opened, causing Kim to run off and jump, Ron followed shortly after. Parachuting to the ground, Kim landed first landing on the ground. She sees a guard above her, about to pull the alarm before someone fell on top of the henchman and punched him unconscious.

Ron climbed down from the vantage point to meet up with Kim. "Kind of a bad drop point, huh?" He joked.

"Don't remind me." She took her helmet off and whipped her hair. "Guess we should just waltz right in, without any problems." She ran forward.

"Shouldn't it be safe to say 'without any problems yet'?" Ron remarked. As he followed suit shortly.

"One, I'm not trying to jinx it, like you just did. Two, I want to focus on the more important thing, like a doomsday device probably blowing us all up." Kim said. 'Thirdly, I want to see whether or not you're the vigilante.' She said the last part in her thoughts.

Following Kim, the blonde boy hears Felix's voice from an earpiece. "Hench is outside the lair, away from the blast zone, the outpost on your left." Instinctively the blonde boy looked left, snarling under his breath, he could feel his nostrils flare for a brief moment. His mind focused on the task at hand, helping Kim out on her little 'mission'.

Appearing on the side of the base, the redhead took out her rappel and aimed it at a good vantage point. "Right here's good." She says as the rappel shot upward. In a sense, Ron grabbed onto her as they shot up to the air and into the lair.

"Ok, lotta guards… how are we going about this again?" Ron asked.

"Ok uhh… I'll take on Shego and you take on the guards… sound fair?" Kim asked.

"Uhh… no. There's more of them, take out some guards along with the green chick and I'll consider it fair." Ron walked in front of her and whipped out his two batons.

'Ok, the best thing to do before Kim brazenly announces our arrival is to…'

"Kim Possible!" The blue guy announced. Ron must've tuned out her 'heroic' line that was probably… well for a better description he'd say… meh.

"Seriously?! Right when we just broke in?!" Ron exclaimed. Yet his tone wasn't meant to scold, but rather worry.

"Just trust me." She whispers to the blonde.

"Nyaah, how did you get pasts the guards?!" Drakken exclaims again.

"There was barely enough people to call it security, only guy we ran into was in an outpost." Ron said. He pointed his thumb outside the lair.

"Heh, even the new guy is taking notice." There was a green lady whose voice dropped with sarcasm. Indifferent to her surroundings, her attention towards sharpening her nails.

"Umm… who are you anyway?" Drakken sheepishly asked.

"Don't worry about it," He twirled his escrima sticks in each hand. "Besides, I wanna have a little fun."

"Wow Kimmie, you picked this guy? Mask, obviously in a dangerous place, guys surrounding him. Didn't know he's got a hard-on for masochism." She sneered. That grin on her face got to Ron, his eyebrow twitched a bit.

"Get this straight green bean, I don't play that! If anything, you're the one asking for it!" Ron said. He gritted his teeth.

Kim stifled a laugh. 'Green bean, that's a good one'.

"Whatever you say, but don't worry, after dealing with princess, I'll save some for you."

She leapt into the air and in front of Kim. Both females taking a fighting stance, while some guards came up to block Ron from the device and Drakken.

With a deep breath, Ron took two steps back. He smacked his batons together and exhaled. The first guard tried to close the distance, but Ron struck him by using his right hand to strike the guards right knee, then his left side to his left rib. He struck the guard with an uppercut to his jaw with his right hand and struck at the enemy's throat with his left. Leaving the guard to clutch at his throat and feel his left calf being kicked where he lost his balance, falling to the ground.

The second guard came in front of the first one, he started leading with a left hook, then a right jab followed with a left uppercut. Ron ducked the first one, then swayed back for the second. The uppercut was countered by attacking the elbow, then the shoulder, after that, the boy locked the joint and bent it to a point where the arm was broken, he then hoisted the henchmen up and threw him at his pursuers.

Kim and Shego strikes were countered by their respective opponents. Each fist strike countered and parried with their forearms. Kim jumped and spun herself to perform a back kick, but she missed completely because Shego tried to counter with a sweep kick. The villainess pushed Kim back and fired a plasma blast. Kim sidestepped from the attack, but her eyes widened upon the realization to where it would hit… or rather whom.

'She's aiming for Ron.' She look back at a quick glance and sees that a guard was attacked in Ron's place, her attention was going to go back to Shego, yet she couldn't help but notice the blonde boy attacking one of the guards throats, hard enough for him to clutch at his neck, gasping for breath.

She ran forward, grabbed a ledge on her right side, hoisted herself upwards to kick the villainess in the face, but she ducked it. Whatever momentum was left in the redhead's body was used to bring the same leg back, this time, her heel effectively strikes Shego right in the cheek.

Shego jumped on the ledge and leapt to the lower levels. Kim followed after.

Ron finished up with his fill of the guards and chased shortly after the duo in combat, Shego took aim again and tried to fire at Kim, the blonde boy noticed. If he didn't do something… or maybe if he did…

'No!' He says. Ron threw his baton in order to strike the green mercenary's hand, in order to misdirect the attack, it worked out successfully.

"KP, remember our deal!" Ron said as he ran towards them both, he performed a baseball slide, picking up his thrown baton in the process. Ron went to work on Shego, Kim stood aghast as he just took action. The redhead believed that he would've been wrapped up with the guards. The situation was high pressure, it could've been like that. But three other guards were charging at the pair. Without time to spare, Kim charged the guards while Ron substituted to fight Shego in her place.

Attacking the guards, her thoughts went back to the blonde boy, his accuracy in throwing the batons was good… too good. From the distance he was in, the accuracy, it's like it was his talent. Her mind flashed back to a certain day, where she fought Electronique, then the vigilante. The vigilante threw shuriken in combat, Kim barely dodged those. There were also knives, thrown onto the pipes in order to break the line of sight as he did a front flip. There were even autopsy reports of murdered criminals having shuriken or kunai embedded into their bodies. Why was she thinking about that now?

Maybe she could try an experiment…something that can be subtle. "Hey, hit the self destruct button!" She says.

Ron was busy fighting Shego, push kicking her onto some control panels. He was going to strike her at the top of the head but she counter by grabbing his wrist and throwing him beside her. Ron tried to hit her with a right elbow hook. Shego had ducked and blasted him out of the way, he was launched upward in the air. With a gasp of breath, he recovered from a dazed state, and fell to the ground, even as he rolled to the ground. Getting back up he sees Shego charging, he places her in a dirty boxing clinch.

"Let's see who you are under the mask." She smirks.

"NO!" He yells, his tone becoming serious. Ron whips her to his right side, kicks her leg to the point where she lost her balance, Ron without thought threw his baton at the button.

'Self-destruct sequence activated, 30 seconds until detonation.' The computer said.

He sees Shego get back up and charge him again, he does a left side kick to her abdomen, he did the right elbow hook again to the face, where she blocked it. He then followed with a left hook, a sweep kick using his left leg, that caused her to fall to the ground again. He used his hands to hoist himself up and bring his left heel to her abdomen. Shego failed to cough any blood, but the last strike really hit the mark.

"C'mon we gotta go!" Ron yelled to Kim. He ran with her to the exit.

"Oh no ya don't." Shego mumbles. She lights plasma from her hands and fires at Ron and it was a direct hit… to the back. He cried in agony, and held Kim who was in front of him right when he was shot. She jumped out of the building with Ron, firing her rappel onto a nearby tree, swinging away from the lair exploding lair. She landed on a tree branch, thick enough to support both her and Ron's combined weight. She looked at a hovercraft, containing Drakken and Shego.

"Some other day, Kim Possible! You think you're all that, but you're not!" Drakken spewed from his mouth. Shego didn't try to speak, clutching at her stomach and glaring at the boy who struck her in such a way.

He will pay… oh yes… he will.

As they flew away, the lair finally blew to bits.

"Are you ok?" The redhead asked.

"Yeah, I'm good. Thanks to you." He responds weakly.

Kim couldn't look at Ron, because somehow this ominous feeling coursed through her. Her body shaking at the mere thought… no the reality. A breeze of wind came through, as her mind placed each piece of the puzzle together. Ron's accuracy at throwing things, the vigilante's skill in shurikenjutsu. The skills they both had in combat, familiar with many martial arts and techniques, whether submission by joint locks or regular bare knuckle fighting. The fearlessness, the disregard for their enemies lives. How he handled himself in the mission. There wasn't mistakes to be made.

He was a vigilante… no he was **_the_** vigilante.

"It was going so well." Ron said, absent of emotion. His eyes were widened as his tone was cold. "You just couldn't help yourself."

With widened eyes, Kim whipped her head back and felt something smack across her head causing her to fall to the ground. Ron jumped after her. To check her pulse and everything of the sort. She was stunned, knocked unconscious.

"I'm sorry KP… but there's just some lines that have to be crossed."

* * *

 ** _Hi everyone, sorry it took so long. Let's just say I got back home and things were hectic, lot of stuff like attending a wedding and more stuff like that. I'm just glad I got this chapter done when I did. BTW, I wanted to pay homage to a certain technique (not perfect but close), in the fight. If anyone can figure it out, I'd be so happy. Think of it like an Easter egg. I would. Hope you guys enjoy and I'll see you soon._**


	14. Cross It For You

"Kim…" A voice called out. A voice that held concern in its tone. The sound felt somewhat distorted as the only thing her eyes registered was darkness.

'What happened to me…' The redhead thought. Her eyes still closed, a pounding feeling in her head. Her body now registering the pain it's been put through. The feeling of her toes wiggling and her fingers picking at something that felt like metal, the smell of something burning. She can confirm that she was alive.

"KP." The voice called out to her again. This time, she swore she could hear fingers snapping, her eyes registered that the fingers used were close to her face.

A sharp inhale through her nose and exhalation through the mouth. Her eyes shot open and looked around. She was tied up, on her knees, her hands behind her back. She looked to see that they were in the lair where they previously fought side by side, charred and burned. Anything that was left resembling the old place was smoldered metal and ash. Kim looked above to meet 'his' eyes. He wasn't in the uniform that was provided for him in the mission, nor the mask provided by Felix. It was his vigilante outfit, a hoodie with gloves, sneakers and pads protecting the wrist and shins.

"I know that this is the outfit different from before, but an outfit that screams 'I'm the killer' is definitely not a good idea." He said.

Kim didn't say anything, she focused her mind and body upon releasing herself from the chains she found herself bound to. Her hands shuffling to find a loose end.

"I wouldn't do that." He added. "I made sure you won't get out of this. I'm sorry, I've been wanting to talk to you, but how can we do that if we're just fighting each other? Obviously, this…" he gestures his hands signaling her predicament "… was the only thing I could come up with." He sits in front of her. His left knee upwards, with his arm resting on it. His right hand supporting him upwards as he eyes the redhead. "So how long have you been doing this?" He asks.

She was silent. Looking at him with such a deadly glare. Filling the area with tension and an uneasy feeling.

"How long have you trained?" He asks again. Still no response. Ron sighs getting up from his position.

"When I was about five years old… I remember copying some ninja moves, I didn't have any formal training by then. I mean it… started when I was eight. But I still kept doing it until my training really began." He paces around the burned lair. "You think you have it figured out when you get a head start but… it wasn't like that." His left hand rubbed the knuckles on his right hand. A sharp inhale came from him. "Where I went, it taught you more than just fancy moves, you weren't just a ninja… they make you a hunter, a warrior, survivor, stuff like that." He walked toward Kim. Taking something out of his bag, he found a bottle of water.

He took the cap off and walked closer to her. "I know you think I'm this psychotic killer and everything… but I'm really not. I mean I do kill, but I haven't really lost if that makes sense. I'm babbling like an idiot… aren't I?" He offered her a sip. "No tricks, no poison, no truth serum or anything… here." Ron placed the bottle to her lips, she drunk from it.

"Were you planning on killing them? Drakken and Shego, the guards?" She asked.

"No." Ron said. "Believe me, I could… but it just… wouldn't feel right. Probably because Drakken isn't that competent to rule the world or whatever he's trying to do. He's not worth it, Shego is the opposite but she just doesn't care. Kill or cripple; that's pretty much my thing." He answered. 'Plus, she needs to pay for shooting me in the back.'

"What about the Fashionistas? Were they competent?" She asked.

"Extorting money from innocent people who actually worked for what they had, yeah I did it. Pretty easy, considering they targeted a kid about our age, what would've happened to him if I hadn't stepped in, broke some bones…"

"Slit their throats." Kim interrupted his sentence.

"I started off non-lethal, then I changed my mind. They still did it, they stole from them, I just… stole it back. I made sure they wouldn't do it again, that they wouldn't hurt innocent people. You think people are gonna lose sleep for those guys, they're not. Trust me." He argued.

A silence fell through the air. A stare down actually happened between the two. Something was coming up in the conversation, they both know it.

"Y'know I've been studying you." Kim said to him.

"Really?" Ron arched his brow.

"You have all of these fighting techniques and people call you a ninja, huh? I mean I know you're from here… that I can say. But all that training and everything like that, you can't tell me that you've done this somewhere that wasn't here in Middleton."

"I was born here, but that's about it." Ron confirmed the redhead's statement.

"So all that training was somewhere else right? Back at the gym and with the guys you showed Brazilian jiu-jitsu, but you were training like a ninja and everything… I just think…"

Ron interrupted her. "Japan. I trained in Japan, happy now?" He huffed in this sentence, she figured it out… but that wasn't the point.

"What you're doing out there, you're taking something back, is that it? You don't have to it like this. You can stop this while you still can." She tried to reason.

"What about you?" Ron said. "You're out here, you're in high school just like me, you're doing the same thing. You didn't stop, why should I? Even if we did, it's too late for us now, we both know that." He sighed.

"I don't kill people Ron, wherever this 'we are alike' stuff came from, you can forget that… we are NOTHING alike!"

Keeping his patience after her little outburst. Ron found something that caught his eye. One word came to mind when he saw that… breakthrough.

"Not on purpose, right?" He says.

"No I wouldn't do something like that!" She states with confidence and bluster. He took his index and middle finger of his right hand and pointed it in a certain direction. He sits nexts to Kim. He signals her to look in a certain direction.

What she saw was something she didn't understand. Those were the guards they both fought together, barely identifiable, unresponsive, lying cold and dead in the destroyed lair. Her eyes remained glued to the people who once lived.

'No… this isn't… how did… did I… what?' Her mind fallen into a state of shock. Her body limped at the sight of this for the brief moment. She looked back at Ron who had a nonchalant look on his face.

"You've never seen this before?" He asked her. "We saw Drakken and Shego making it out of the lair, but these guys… yikes." He imitates an explosion while pressing his fingers together and moving them away.

"You did this." Kim whispered. "Don't put this on me! I wouldn't kill those guys, not like you do!"

"Yeah, just an accident right? The 'girl who can do anything' made a mistake and killed these guys because of it. KP, I admit it, I pushed the button. I blew up this place… but didn't you tell me to do something earlier? I remember hearing you say 'Hey press the self-destruct button.' I didn't have a reason to press it, until…" he rotated his hand and stopped it to point at Kim. "You told me to."

She could only lean back. Holding on to a strength slowly but surely wavering. She closed her eyes. "They didn't have to die like this."

Ron wouldn't dare taunt her any further. She's reacting just like he did when he killed his first criminal. At the time, he held a portion of sympathy for the lowlife. He was just a thug, a smuggler, a killer when it came down to it. How the madman cried in agony, clutched at his heart where a blade was stabbed to it, how the life he took for granted finally slipped away from him. But that sympathy turned to disdain as he desired to curse and spit on the man's corpse. Ron and Kim were two different people, he was used to it, she wasn't.

"You did this…" She muttered. After several hollow breaths, her voice roared. "You did this! Don't pin this on me you… you…" She didn't wish to say anything further, yet her seething rage was past that. "YOU SON OF A BITCH!" She finished.

Ron nonchalantly walked up to her, looking above the sky, arching his eyebrows and exhaling. What looked to be a walk, was a disguised attack. A kick to the face. Not even a smart remark came to his lips. He was just silent.

She spat on the ground. Her eyes looked at Ron and for a brief moment she saw that he had a flash of anger burning into his eyes. She learned something because of that attack; she struck a nerve. "What would they think, huh? Your mom, your dad, is this the boy they raised to be? A killer?!" She sat up, increasing the volume of her words. "I don't know your story, I really don't. How can you live with yourself knowing that when you're killing these thugs, you're ripping families apart too?! You're no better than any of them… and you…"

"YOU'RE THE LAST PERSON I WANT TO TELL ME THIS BULLSHIT!" Ron's anger finally showed, no more hospitality, no more patience, just anger. "Tell me, did you even think about the people of the families those assholes victimized?! The people look to you as some savior, right?! But here's the harsh reality, Red: you can't save anyone, not if you don't FINISH THEM OFF!"

"So you're answer is to just kill off every criminal you see?!"

"It's more than just that Kimmie!" He said as he took his blade out and began to sharpen it. "You wanna talk about families being ripped apart, look long and hard about the people you save. They love you now… but when those animals get out… you'll see… you'll see there's no closure. Next thing you know… they'll change their tone."

"The city doesn't need a killer. It needs someone to keep all of them together! You can't just live in a world where the only thing that's resolved is killing. Middleton needs hope, families and communities need hope, this city needs that… so I have to be the hero they need me to be, Ron! I'm what this city needs, whether I like it or not!"

"If that's the case, then I'm the hero THIS CITY DESERVES! Root out the evil, people can have hope, I get that! But it can take just one person, one day to change all of that! Every murderer, every thief, every rapist… I'LL SLIT EVERYONE OF THEIR THROATS! ALL OF THEM! THEY'LL BEG FOR MERCY! THEY'LL BEG JUST LIKE THEIR VICTIMS AND THERE WILL BE NONE!" He stopped to calm himself down, a silence was in the air. His voice held a calm yet eerie tone. "We're fighting for the same thing, it's the way we go about it. You talk about… families ripped apart… you don't know what that's like… not like I do. Believe me… believe me when I say it's not pretty, it's hard to cope, not impossible. We're both want the same thing… a better place… a better world. Bring people together, kill those who'd hurt innocent people. Not everyone feels the same way you do, and not everyone feels the same way I do. I'm not right, but it doesn't mean I'm wrong. You've brought people together just as I made hard calls." He stood up, to look up to the skies.

It was a lot for Kim to take in. He's right about a couple of things, she didn't know what it was like to lose someone she'd truly loved. Even now, they were together… happy. It even sounded like Ron knows that a community needs to be kept together.

Kim is kind and caring. She'd chose to help the world not because of the limelight, but maybe show people that there's still some good in the world… good in people. It's true that she's a freelance operative in Global Justice, she could've quit a long time ago… but there was one thing she knew about it: this was her choice. To lose someone they cared about; Ron went into that… a thought came to her, 'Did he lose someone?'. She pondered about his fall from grace.

Before she could say something, Ron was gone. Like a ninja, he vanished from Kim's sight, right when she took her eyes off of him. "What's he up to…" Kim said to herself.

Ron's head peered from the destroyed entrance. "You still alive in there?" He asked. A tone of sarcasm after lashing out in a fit of rage.

"What do you think?" She asks with her own tone of sarcasm.

"Just checking." He answered. Yet there was an odd sound she heard. It sounded almost like… dragging. "Ladies and Gentlemen, for one night only, I present to you… the leader of Henchco, the man who created the moniker "henchman"… Jack Hench himself!" Ron throws him down in front of Kim. "How ya doing Jack, not like it matters anyway?!" He grabbed Jack and punched him in the face.

"What did you do?!" She shrieks.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I got some guys to kidnap him and bring him here, long story short…" Ron went over to Kim's side, from her perspective, it felt like he was loosening the chains. For she could feel her wrists wiggling about. "The identity thing… yeah I really thought you were going to figure it out so… I thought 'two birds, one stone'."

"Why the hell are you doing this?" Hench weakly asked.

His answer was met with a swift kick to the mouth. "Shut up!" Ron said.

"Ron, stop! He doesn't deserve this…" Kim argued.

"You don't know what he's done, have you?" He smirks. "Also, you just told him my name, I thought spies were suppose to keep things secret." He grabs Jack and places his arm around him. "So what you've been up to, Jack?"

"Nothing… I-I'm just a businessman." He stammered, lying through his teeth. "People come to me for employment, I find them accommodations."

"There's more than what you're saying, Jackie, I don't believe you." Ron smacks him in the face. "Tell her… tell her about the shipment." Ron said. He remembered the director grabbing cargo manifests of a shipment. Something that was a secret. A dirty little secret.

"It's just a shipment to a customer… a buyer here in the states." He gasped. He felt his life being choked from him.

"Really, what did it have? I mean it must've been valuable." Ron said. He plants his left knee onto Jack's rib cage.

"Important people, people you have to make a good impression on!" Jack answers.

"Shut up, Jack! You're making it worse!" Kim was shaking, her breathing was heavy upon this.

"You better say it!" He punched Jack in the jaw before taking out his sword and placing the tip near his throat. "What was in there, huh?!"

"It was… it was… just girls!" He answers.

Kim's eyes widened. Did he just confess to shipping girls? His company was accused of several crimes, but this struck a nerve with her more than she thought, in a brief moment… she just wanted to kill him.

"How old were they and how many?" Ron continued.

"Old enough for high school… we had at least 35 or 40. You got to understand… my client… he's more dangerous than you know." His eyes were slowly drifting away from consciousness, until Ron was smacking his cheeks. He then turned his attention to Kim.

"Human trafficking. Innocent girls sold as sex slaves, this man is responsible and you've taken no action whatsoever to punish him." He got closer to Kim, their faces mere inches from one another. "Forty parents, maybe more waiting for their sweet innocent little girl to come home. Placing their 'hope' their faith in you." He then smiles mockingly at her.

"It was just business, I had no choice." Jack interrupted.

"Just business…" Ron says. "He doesn't care at all. "So, you still wanna protect him, bring him in. He'll get out again, and when he does… there's gonna be more."

Kim was silent towards him, yet her eyes remained glued onto him. She relied on them to answer the questions she couldn't put into words.

"Jack has all of these henchmen at his disposal, on his payroll… what do you think is gonna happen when I kill him? It's like a stack of blocks, take one off and another, and another, and the rest will soon follow. Cripple your enemies, take down what they've built… they'll crawl out. When they have nothing left… go for the kill. What is what I'm gonna do right now… your strength against mine." He flashes his sword in front of her, twirling it. Sticking his tongue out, he runs the blade horizontally without touching it. Another taunt.

His eyes transitioned into a darker glare as he grabbed Jack by his head and pressed the blade onto his throat. "I loosened the chains Kimmie, you better hurry if you wanna save his life!"

"Don't do this! Let's just take him to the police, you've already gotten a confession out of him!" She said as she struggled to break free from her bonds. "I get it! He's an asshole, he's guilty of a lot of things… believe me, nothing would please me more than to see him suffer, but not like this Ron!" She was able to stand on her legs now. "Stop this while you can, Ron! Please listen to me, I can't… I can't let you do this!"

"Then you better break free, you're almost there! C'mon! Let's go!"

Kim screamed, using every ounce of her strength to break free, for some reason, her legs ran forward, about to tackle Ron and thrash him. But a problem became present.

Her arms were still tied behind her. The chain yanked her back as she got too close. She looked back up to see a horrifying sight.

Ron slit Jack Hench's throat right in front of her. The sound of Jack choking on his blood, the sight of him convulsing and holding his neck. For some reason, his mouth moved to form a word… 'why'.

This was death, this was murder, her mind couldn't bear witnessing this any longer. The last thing that was heard before she fainted was Ron's last words.

"You can't cross the line, but I can… don't worry, I'll get you out of the chains soon." Acting swiftly, he carried Kim out of the building and left her on the tree where they first landed, where Kim deduced his identity. Taking her Kimmunicator, he placed a distress signal.

Leaving her, his own communicator was ringing. "Felix, she knows now. Also Jack is dead."

"Allegations are still pending about what he's done, if we don't show the evidence to the right people, his murder will be considered cold blooded. He'll die a good man, when we both know he's not. If she blabs this to the school, things will get even more complicated for you." Felix told Ron his viewpoint which wasn't off the mark.

"That's fine, but first… I need to know something… can you find someone for me?" Ron asked.

"Depends on who it is." He answers.

"I need to talk with the director of Global Justice, I don't suppose you can find her."

"Sure, I can find her… but what makes you think she'll talk to you?" Felix asking the blonde boy.

"She owes me another dance."


	15. A Hunter A Scourge, An Agent of Justice

Chapter 15: A Hunter, A Scourge, An Agent of Justice

"You can't cross the line, but I can…" The thought reverberated in Kim's mind as her consciousness failed to take her back into the real world. Her body could only feel the gentle breeze of the night. Over time, a muffled sound of a person talking through a communicator had found their way towards her. 'Requesting immediate evac.'

'What have I done?' She pictured herself walking up to Ron, the innocent smile on his face, the nonchalant tone in his voice. How she talked to him, he didn't show signs of any psychotic tendencies, he wasn't a sociopath either. He wasn't that quiet, he voiced out some concerns he had. The blonde boy was smart and dare would she say… interesting.

'This isn't… is this really…' That innocent smiled formed into a look Kim knew all too well in her line of work. Devoid of empathy, disregard of the lives he's taken. But somehow, he saw fit to entertain himself, taunting them, smirking, reminding all of them of their weaknesses. To him it was just a mission, a means to an end… and nothing else.

Kim wiggled her fingers and toes, a flare of her nostrils and she woke to a bright light. Her arms felt weak as she used one of them to shield her eyes. She sat up, still adjusting to the brightness, recovering from combat.

"You're in no shape to get up." A voice said to her. She turned to see fellow agent Will Du placing some medical supplies back into a kit. Sporting an annoyed look on his face, she could see that his bottom lip was cut and his cheek was bruised. "I could be with the director discussing Global Justice concerns, but after losing Hoodie, I've been delegated to provide backup to a mission suited for amateurs." He said under his breath. After closing the kit, he placed it back where it was found, not even sporting a passing glance towards his fellow agent.

"The vigilante…" Kim groaned. Her eyes closed for a couple seconds.

"Got away… Jack's throat is slit, several men were killed in an explosion and the investigation is a cold case. That's not even mentioning Drakken and Shego's escape." He opened a dossier related to the case, pictures of deceased victims and reports.

"I know who he is." She continued.

"I don't care." Will remarked callously. "The director placed this on your shoulders, not mine. My objective is to simply get you back home… nothing else." He left the medical bay, leaving Kim to huff in frustration. She lied back down.

A guy like Ron… at first glance, he's normal and innocent, but after this mission… she saw a different person altogether. Will may not care about this investigation, but she does.

He can't go about slaughtering the guilty unchecked. Kim knew she had to get back out there, she had to slip away from Will and hunt Ron down… if he's gonna strike again. She knows where he lives, his identity, it will enough to stop him, bring him down. But somehow, a doubt crept into her mind… exposure of his identity; could it be enough? Drakken, Shego, Duff Killigan, most of her rogues gallery happens to be known to the law. It didn't stop them, since Ron may as well be added to the list, what difference would it make if one more was added to the list.

Difference…

"Everything used to be so simple." Kim mumbles to herself. There was a routine, a pattern followed… but now it's different. There's more bloodshed, more risks… all it took was one guy about her age to bring it about. If that was the case, what will happen if they face off again? Would she be able to stop him, or just another body count? A fear like that wasn't to be ignored, for her right arm trembled, leaving her left hand to grip it. Despite what Ron said at the diner, a part of her doubted if there was any truth to his words… as she did before.

" _You said he kills bad people right? You're obviously not a bad person so maybe that's why. I mean you save the world, so you've a got a lot of respect… from the good guys at least_."

Was there by any chance that he respected her to a point where he didn't want to kill her, or that she didn't cross the line like the others did? Kim wanted to lock Ron up, that's a given. If he wanted to hide his identity from people who would stand against him, it would've made sense for the blonde boy to get rid of any loose ends. Kim had to figure it out for herself, his reaction had confirmed it. He was after criminals and no one was going to stop him, not even Kim.

So why did Ron let her live in the first place?

There had to be more than what he was letting on, that's the idea. She looked through her pockets and found her Kimmunicator. She sat up and threw her hair back.

"Kim! I'm glad you're okay." Wade said. "I heard about what happened."

She looked around, peering outside to examine the cockpit, checking if anyone was watching her. To her relief, no one was…

"Wade, I need you to track the vigilante again, he's planning to strike again."

"Ok, but where would he go? We gotta narrow down the search first." He suggested. Taking a sip of his soda, he then went to typing.

"Before he was killed, Jack mentioned something about trafficking young girls. A shipment was made and there could be a chance that's where he's headed."

"Ok…" Wade quickly did a search. "So far there hasn't been any shipments that left the Middleton area yet. When there's something off I'll let you know."

"Ok Wade, thanks." She ended the transmission and lied back down. 'Ron… wherever you are…' she huffed under her breath. 'I'll find you and I'll put a stop to this.'

Meanwhile

Getting back to Middleton wasn't difficult for Ron, but what he's going to do next won't be pretty either.

The goal was of course to see the director of Global Justice, Felix was on the job of tracking her down, but there wasn't any progress… yet.

Despite this, Ron had to make a stop… normally this called for a discreet and subtle approach. This is no exception… even as he crouched onto the roof of the home and knocked on the window door. From the sound of it, someone was watching tv. He knocked on the window with his knuckle. Ron could hear the person jolt up, sneaking towards the window. Once their eyes met, he wave friendly, leaving the other to breathe a sigh of relief.

Opening the window, the figure looked at him in surprise "Y'know, you could've used the front door." Monique said to him. His eyes were cast downward, twiddling his thumbs.

Immediately after seconds of her finishing her sentence, he came out with these certain words. "I can't stay." Looking back up at the fashionista, his eyes contained guilt, yet absent of sorrow and regret.

"You can't stay?" She scoffs at the statement blissfully unaware. "You came all the way here to tell me that? C'mon, baby boy, what's going on?"

"Look um… when I went with Kim to the mission, everything was ok but…" He looked away for a bit. "I feel like you need to hear this from me."

Monique became silent. Based on his deadpan expression, there was something important he wanted to say. Something happened during the mission, did Drakken actually get the upper hand this time?

Three words were uttered from his mouth. "I'm the vigilante." The world just suddenly paused for almost a second.

A silent chuckle came from Monique's lips. "Okay, so you're the big bad hero…" Her tone wasn't denial but disbelief. "Ok 'vigilante'…" She air quoted the word. "Prove it." Folding her arms she awaited a response.

But he didn't put anything into words, Ron merely took off the strap of his blade and showed her the blade still in the sheathe. Placing it onto the edge of the window. "I'm not lying to you." His eyes showed a form of sincerity as he looked upon Monique's own, still in shock.

"Wait… wait, wait, wait… why would you tell me this, why not just keep it a secret?"

Ron only shrugged his shoulders. "I guess you deserved to hear it from me than anyone else. I know we're not best friends… but still." His voice sounded drained. His eyes looked away from her.

"Is… is Kim…" Monique wanted to know… was the redhead okay? Did he kill her or did Drakken's goons do it? Knowing the latter would've been difficult, it certainly wouldn't be impossible.

"She's ok, don't worry. Kim's heading back home." The silence came back, Ron clenched his left hand into a fist, then released it. "Look, I don't wanna cause anymore weirdness after this. I understand if you don't wanna… Y'know."

Monique covered her face and let out a sigh. "How long?" She asked. She wanted to look at him, yet found it difficult. How long was he a vigilante, how long has he trained for something like this, how long has he been killing bad guys?

Ron answered all of those questions with the simplest of words. "Too long." Gently arming himself with his blade. He wanted to reach out, to place his hand on Monique's shoulder, yet he was refrained from it, fearing that it would make things worse. "I'm sorry." He murmured.

Monique, her back still towards him, drew a shuddering breath turned to him. "Ron I…"

She failed to finish her sentence as the blonde boy vanished from sight. She peeked from the window, from side to side. She found no one there.

"Hey Felix, did ya find the Director yet?" Ron asked him.

"Yeah, but here's the thing…"

Ron pinched the bridge of his nose. "There's always a thing isn't there?"

"She's still in Global Justice headquarters, she's about to leave, so you'll have to corner her in the parking lot there."

He sighs. "This tanks, man." Now he had another trip, he hoped there would be some amount of pleasantry in this.

An Hour Later

Sifting through files and reports, the Director was so keen onto the vigilante. This unhinged individual piqued her interest, professionally at least. Being an agent of GJ isn't always about reveling in victories and showing power over their adversaries, lines had to be crossed just as hard calls had to be made. This person may as well have done both, considering his actions as of late.

Team Impossible would be back on active duty tomorrow, Kim and Will are still active, but reeling over the failure of the mission that was the capturing of the vigilante and Hoodie's protection respectively. Things should be back to something that's considered a normality… if only that was true. She had an eye for talent and this person met the criteria.

Would it be smart for her to let him slip through the cracks? Allow an opportunity that dared to knock go unanswered? One week barely passed and already around thirty people were murdered by him. Criminals to be precise.

Arriving at her vehicle, she was about to unlock the car doors before the lights of the parking lot vanished. As the car glowed for a second, there was a barely visible silhouette appearing behind her.

She slowly turned to see the vigilante standing… still, undaunted and eerily calm. A light flickered from the side, yet she didn't dare to take her eyes off of him.

"I didn't come to fight you." That was his statement.

Regaining her composure, she responded. "Imagine my surprise, my agents couldn't catch you, but you show up right on my doorstep."

"Well I just couldn't stay away… I wanted to dance with you again but ah… Y'know… duty calls."

"So you're Dean huh? The guy who loves the outdoors, who loves hunting?" She walked towards him.

For some reason, a lecherous thought came to mind. Should the Director walk closer, using her fingers to slowly remove some of the armor and clothing enough to expose his bare chest. The blonde boy, would unzip the suit she wore, slip his hand to feel her warm, supple breasts… pushing her body to the car, unlocking the car door for the passenger seat and ravaging her in order to satiate the inner lusts corrupting his mind. Intertwining their hands as he would thrust himself inside her folds, which in turn would swallow and grip him with delight.

He rubbed the corner of his eye and cleared his throat, a method to avert his mind from going any further. "Well, Dean Andrews to be precise. Sorry for dropping in like this. I couldn't really get your attention, you're not on a phone book from what I can tell."

The director pulled something out from her pocket in a steady manner. What she pulled out was a phone and turned it on. "I'd like to know if you have a good reason for being here. You've trespassed on private property, assaulted some of my agents and killed about twenty-five to thirty criminals, since I last checked. It hasn't been a week and already you're causing them trouble, just as you're causing me trouble. If I don't have enough of a good reason, I'll put this place on lockdown and I'll have security bring you in for questioning." Her thumb hovered over the button. Her confidence wavered slightly, she already knows what he's capable of could some average security guards actually bring him down? This is a guy who went toe to toe with Kim Possible.

"Jack Hench is dead and his company is not going to make it without him. The allegations brought onto him by a lot of people weren't good enough."

"Lack of evidence, I'm aware of that." She folded her arms, her thumb still hovering over the button.

"The story's gonna break anytime that Hench was killed to the public. He'll die as a philanthropist and legitimate businessman and that won't look good… for you I mean."

Her thumb inched closer to the button, this boy has already gotten her in enough trouble. Betty was poised to push it, but not yet.

"So what if I told you… I have everything you need? Evidence like his dealings, human trafficking, money laundering, the works. A confession, the torture part and the 'over the phone' part. Doesn't matter which, he admits it anyway."

She inched her thumb away from the button. "I'm listening."

Ron walks up to her and leans onto the car. "I'm hunting the same people you are, I want my attacks on these criminals to be more precise. I heard of this organization called the Worldwide Evil Empire. I want that."

Betty's hand relaxed, she huffed and closed her eyes for a couple seconds. "Let's say I consider this offer, I get this information, it benefits my organization and myself… what would you want out of it? Aside from the killings and the bloodlust?"

"Everyone has a lust, but I don't think I associate myself with a 'blood lust'…" his voice grew quiet as the sentence nearly finished. "But as I said, we're fighting the same enemies and that's enough. We can start with whatever's going on in the city right now."

The Director took a good look at him, while it may seem that his words, his actions were sincere. But there's another reason as to why he's out there… killing. It couldn't be helped that she was curious about the deeper meaning to it. Ron wanted his attacks to be more 'precise', he wanted to hit them where it hurts. Three low level gangsters weren't enough for him. He wanted the big leagues, he wanted the professionals.

If that's what he wants, that's what he'll get.

"If you want me to accept this deal, then you'll have a little something for me tomorrow." She gave him a headset. "I'll contact you in a given time… you show up late or with someone, the deal's off. What I'm going to suggest it unauthorized, so stealth is of the essence for the mission."

"So this means… I'm your personal assassin?" Ron asked.

She unlocked the door and started her car. "Don't disappoint me, talent like yours shouldn't go to waste. Also one piece of advice… you might need a haircut." Before she could shift her gears, the lights suddenly turned off and flickered back on, indicating his sudden disappearance.

An Hour Later…

After Ron finished up with his nightly expeditions, he tended to his wounds in the bathroom. Running his hands with cold water, he slicked his hair back. His back still shivered over the burning feeling of Shego blasting him.

Getting out of one doghouse, he lands in another. The Director of GJ, skeptical but eager to put his skills to use for missions that will spill blood. More so, the ops had to be covert. It should be easy for him right?

Not if Kim had anything to say about it.

The redhead knows his identity now, she'll be monitoring him, watching his every move. Even more, he even told Monique about it. A gossip queen and the girl he pretty much traumatized. While he felt guilty about the latter, even if he knew there's always a darker and unforgiving side to humanity, there was also one that still had hope… goodness. A side that Kim would try to make him see.

Even as he rubs water on his face, his mind kept going back to that day. Sighing in misfortune, he wanted to go to sleep but he took a pair of scissors.

"Maybe I can cut this short."


	16. Two Sides, Two People, Same Desire

Chapter 16: Two Sides, Two People, Same Desire

Kim Possible's night and the following morning were less than pleasant. 'Misery' wouldn't be the word she'd use, yet there were aspects of that feeling throughout those moments.

Over and over, she replayed it in her head, when she closed her eyes that night, she remembered vividly. How nightmares would have the gall to haunt her, she could even remember the smell of blood, the sound of Hench choking, the horrors were too great.

Kim woke up in the middle of the night, the palms of her hands covering her face. Giving out a huff, she sits up on her bed. One hand slicking back her auburn hair, she leaves her room and goes down to the kitchen. Opening a cabinet, she takes a cup from there and fills it with cold water from the sink. She takes a seat in the dining room, bringing the water to her parched lips and unsettled nerves.

Kim felt a creak, and turned around, she sees her mother donned in a silky magenta robe sporting a worrisome look on her face.

"Are you ok?" Ann asks. She walked towards her slowly, taking a seat next to her.

"Couldn't sleep Mom, sorry if I woke you up." She looks away from her, feeling ashamed of herself… ashamed of being helpless, ashamed of feeling useless.

"No. No. I'm alright, I just…" Ann paused for a bit, wanting to find the right words. "I heard about what happened. Your father and I… we're worried about you. You haven't said anything when you came back, you didn't call us to tell us that you were coming home. Something is going on… and I don't know what." She places her hand on Kim's knee. "Talk to me. What happened?"

Taking another sip, she spoke. "It was… it was just another mission. In and out, as always but… it wasn't. I… I needed help with taking down Drakken and Shego, so I asked someone to help me. He was… he was good… y'know he… he knew how to fight, he knew how to protect himself and he was a big help. We were about to blow up the entire place… I mean we got out of there but… I found out something about him… something crazy." Kim sighs.

"It must've been something serious if you're like this." Ann comments. Her baby girl this uneasy, this disheveled. It's unsettling.

"Yeah, it was. He knew that I figured it out and knocked me out. He showed me things that I shouldn't have seen… that I didn't want to see. When we blew the place up, we saw some goons and they… they didn't make it. But that's not even the worst of it… he killed him… killed him right in front of me."

Ann could only look at her and sigh. She leaned forward and hugged her little girl. Kim didn't bother to shed a tear, rather she exhaled, depressively from the sound of it. Ann cupped her daughter's cheeks and spoke to her. "There are things beyond anyone's control. What he did isn't on you, neither is what you couldn't do." She didn't want Kim to hold herself accountable for someone else's actions.

"But what happened to those guys are." I… told him… I told him to blow up the place. I wanted to know… to see if I was right, and…"

"Hey!" Ann interrupted. "You can't change what happened sweetie. I know you're better than that, everyone one of us knows that. What you need to do, is decide for yourself how you're going to beat this. But you don't have to do it alone."

Kim simply nodded her head. "Are you gonna be okay?" Her mother says.

"Yeah, I just… I just need time to… process this." Her mother leaving her side, she sat for awhile, gazing out of the window to see a darkened morning. With her mother's encouragement, she decided to confront this head-on.

Stopping the vigilante, stopping Ron… that's what she has to do.

* * *

After the successful, but botched mission, Ron decided to rest for the remainder of the night. He felt successful knowing that Hench is 6 feet under, with a nice little 'mark' on his throat. With that in mind, he knows that's he was involved in a couple of illegal endeavors. Despite Hench's lawyers will come to his defense in the press, it can't be denied that the evidence was concrete enough to give him a life sentence. Normally some people would want to give Jack the death penalty, but how can someone be killed if they're already dead?

Waking up after a few hours of rest, his eyes opened. A feeling of cold air enveloped his lungs as he turned to the side of the night stand. From there, he sees a photo of himself with his parents still alive. Grabbing it and taking a closer look, a sad smile came upon his face.

"Miss you." He murmured. He placed the photo back onto the stand and looked toward the door. From there he saw a kid, a short kid, blonde, in his pajamas, brown eyes and a look on his face that told people that he couldn't sleep.

Ron got up out of the bed and got out of the room, slowly opening the door with only the sound of it creaking filling the house. Looking to his left and right, seeing no one there, he pinches the bridges of his nose and sighs. "I'm seeing things." He says to himself.

Putting on an outfit, a hoodie, sweatpants and sneakers. He decides to leave the house, go wherever he could… and maybe help someone out.

He started off jogging in a certain direction, picking up speed as he strays further from his home. Seeing a fire escape he leaps to grab it and take himself to the roof. Jumping from rooftop to rooftop, he saw that he was reaching near the end and decided to go back to ground level.

To his surprise, he was right in front of a gym, that has seen better days. "Hm, not even a big flashy sign? Looks like it's almost about to run down, what happened here?" From the corner of his eye, he sees two guys, and it seems that they're harassing an old man.

"You're not getting away from this, not like last time." The first guy said.

"Our boss wanted you to pay up, you didn't want to do it, so you know what happens." The second guy remarks.

The old man tried to plea. "The money will be there soon, I just need a little more time."

"I'm sure you do, but don't worry, we'll be sure to pay your son a visit after this." The second man snidely remarked as he twirled a baseball bat.

The old man felt fear "Leave my son out of this!"

That was where Ron stepped in. "You bastards get off on beating old men?!" He walked furiously toward them. To think, we wasn't going to kill someone this morning. But it'll still pay to hope.

The first guy chuckled at the boy's foolishness. "Look at this, kid's got a pair on 'em." He cockily walks towards the blonde boy. He takes out a switch blade. Twirling it around he simply laughed "You wanna help him, how bout you pay for…" He never got a chance to finish as he felt an uppercut to the jaw. The hand that had his blade was immediately grabbed, and Ron punched him in the throat, tossing him to the ground. Taking the knife from the crook, Ron stabs the first guy, gouging his eye out. It left the crook screaming in agony, rolling around on the ground as he holds his bleeding face.

Ron charges the second guy with the blade in hand. As the guy took a swing, Ron did a baseball slide and stabbed the guy in the leg, placing him on his knee, he then stabbed the arm that held the bat. With the blade lodged in, he knees him in the jaw and takes the bat from the thug and swings it onto his face, breaking his nose and causing his front teeth to fall off.

"Sorry, but I think your boss is going to have to hear the word 'no'. I'm sure he knows what that means." With concern in his eyes he looks at the old man.

"You ok?" Ron asks.

"Oh thank you!" He says as the panic in his heart started to dissipate. "Oh God, those animals." He continued.

Ron held his hand and patted his back, "You don't have to say anymore, is there somewhere you can take a breath, a safe place?"

"The gym, right there." He points. "Ok, we'll get there, just… stay with me." Ron said as he walked the man towards the gym at a pace where it wouldn't strain him, but quick enough to know that they couldn't stay out here. As they reached the door, the old man takes out a key and unlocks it.

"You own this place?" Ron asks.

"I won't be for long, not if guys like them keep doing this." The old man says. Both inside, Ron took him to his office and sat him down.

Placing his hand on his forehead, the old man sighs. "This is the last thing I need, on top of everything else. Just why?" He mumbles to himself.

"What was going on with those punks? They run a racket or something?" He takes a cup and fills it with water.

"I'm afraid it's more than that… but this shouldn't be your problem. You seem like a nice kid, although you're a little…"

"Bloodthirsty, combative? Don't worry, I'm used to hearing that. Whoever those guys are, they're my problem now, after what I did to them." Ron finishes for him.

The old man takes a bottle of pills from his desk and opens it. Popping them in his mouth, he drinks the water and takes a slow and steady breath. "My heart, it isn't what it once was, all the stress and everything, it's getting to me. I don't wanna burden you with this… I really don't."

Ron looks out the window which overlooks the gym. "The place looks… modest at best. This is a fighting gym right, what's taught here? You do kickboxing, wrestling, jiu jitsu, or is it just regular boxing?" Ron wanted to avoid saying the word 'rundown', the last thing he wanted was to be disrespectful to the man.

"You know, it actually started off as a boxing gym, trained some pretty good guys who ahh, got scouted by people. Boxers, Mixed Martial Artists, those two types as far as I can tell." The old man leaned back on his chair.

"Almost makes me wanna sign up for a membership." Ron jokes. The old man had a small smile on his face when he heard that.

"So after that, some guy came in, said they were running a fighting tournament or something. Apparently one of the members here went in, got beaten pretty bad. Tracked the gym and said something went down that caused a lot of commotion, apparently placing me in 'debt'. If I didn't pay up, they'll smash the place, threaten my life and my son's life."

Ron looked back at him. "Why not contact the police? What about GJ or something?" He sat down in front of him. Folding his hands and placing them on the table.

"The guy has deep pockets, police won't even try to interfere. GJ, they were there, this redhead was there, but they couldn't find anything. They actually helped my son out when he was on his way to college. Actually planned to give the gym to him, but all it is… it's nothing but debt and people cancelling their memberships. It's getting close to shutting down."

GJ and the police failed this man, to some aspect, it didn't surprise him. Ron wanted to help him, maybe cut this bastards head off and put it on a pike.

"Look uhh…" Ron started. "You're a good man, and I don't wanna see you or your son owe something to a bunch of crooks. I'm not gonna be like GJ or the police, what if I can make a permanent solution? Your luck is running out, and right now… I'm your best chance."

The old man took another drink. "What's your name, kid?"

"My name is… Dean." Ron said, avoiding his real name.

"You don't look like a 'Dean' to me." He says looking at Ron, who took off his hood, revealing a crew cut hairstyle.

"What do you think a 'Dean' looks like? I mean, I'm not dying my hair brown if that's what you're thinking."

"Fair enough, my name is Walter." Walter gets up to walk toward the blonde boy and looks him straight in the eye. "Listen, Dean… these fights aren't just usual typical street fights. They're - some people don't come out alive. I can't live with the idea that I sent someone to fight my battles and they die for it. I just can't." Walter places his hands on Ron's shoulders, hoping he'll reconsider. But for some reason, a part of his conscience wanted him to do it. But not for the reason to die, for the reason that maybe he'll have a chance to live without fear looming through him.

"Yeah, but ah… you should trust me… I mean I've been through this. Look, where do they host this kind of stuff?" Walter removed his hands from his shoulders.

"There's a club in Middleton that's not too far from here. Hold on…" Walter walks to his desk, grabbing a paper and pen and writing down the address. "Here, make sure you say exactly what I put down." Ron deduced that this was a password of entry.

'The Reaper's opened the gates'

"8 p.m is where the fighting starts. Just…" the old man couldn't continue, as he contemplated about this action that could turn out to be a mistake.

Ron just took his leave, heading back to the alley where the two thugs were probably lying. The second guy who he struck in the head with the bat was lying there. He goes toward him to feel a pulse. Dead. The first man, nowhere to be seen. 'I'm surprised he's running, even when his eyeball was stabbed out. I think I overdid that part, but when it comes to surviving like that, could it really be helped. He looks at the digital watch on the dead man.

"I should head to school, sort things out from there."

As school began everything was sort of the same, new boring assignments, lectures that put most students to sleep, the only solace anyone could find was lunch time, or their break periods.

Sitting down, there were things that were pretty different, for starters Brick wasn't as boastful and annoying to the people in class. Ron wanted to believe that it was his little confrontation changed that… but anyone can delude themselves to believing they still had their pride intact after a thorough humiliation.

Another was Monique, she didn't even bother to say hi, or spare him a passing glance, at least one that he'd notice. Could she really be distraught about him revealing himself to be a vigilante, who actually fought Kim and had no problems crossing a line? In her position, he'd probably do the same, he didn't blame the fashionista. This somber tension that filled the classroom actually corrupted his head and gave him a somber mood as well.

To add salt to the particular wound, he saw the redhead Kim Possible stare at him with a glare that indicated death. Of course she'd be mad, no… furious at what he'd done to her, what he'd made the redhead witness. It seemed like Kim was using every fiber of her being to not walk up and punch him for what he's done.

When it came to lunch, Ron would sit with Felix and some other people. He didn't bother going near Kim or Monique. The blonde boy feared he'd done enough.

"So, did you see the news this morning?" Felix asked. He took out his phone scrolling to the video.

Ron shook his head. "I got sidetracked this morning, another problem, couple guys running a protection racket or loan sharking, one of those two." Felix hit the play button.

"Authorities recently released a statement confirming the death of CEO's HenchCo Industries Jack Hench. Recent allegations have claimed that Hench was involved in criminal activity such as weapons smuggling and human trafficking. Evidence, provided by Global Justice and reviewed by many other departments finished their investigation, concluding that Jack Hench was indeed involved in the affairs." It cut to someone else speaking.

"It was unbelievable. I mean this guy was involved in a lot of things, and now… now he's killed for it." Ron shrugged his shoulders. Hearing the statement didn't have any effect on him.

"Evidence has also surfaced that an attacker was going after Jack Hench, evidenced by the assault in his home, prior to his hospitalization last week. The organization known as Global Justice has yet to issue a statement pertaining to the case. We'll keep you updated as this story develops."

"Well he's done, thanks to us." Felix said. "I don't suppose we're going after someone else now?"

"No… like they said, he was involved in human trafficking. We need to rescue those people who're still trapped." Ron said. He leaned back and took a sip of his drink. "Also, I need another favor… there's this old man who's down on his luck. His name is Walter, got a kid and college and owns a gym here in Middleton. The racket that I was talking about earlier… yeah, he's being extorted."

"Guessing that he doesn't need cash. You got a lead?"

"I might…" Ron leans towards the hacker. "Look, these guys are hosting some underground fight night, it's happening tonight at this address." Ron showed Felix a piece of paper.

"I can maybe find the owner of the building, or get surveillance and find a name and cross reference it with criminal databases. If something happens, I'll let you know."

"Thanks man. I really appreciate it." Ron said.

"Look, uhh… you being a killer ninja and all… I gotta ask… what happened? I mean, normally no one usually chooses something like this, fantasize it sure, but for someone to actually be one… it's strange."

Ron felt a shiver emanating from his back and traveling to his arms and hands. His mood becoming less and less cheery. "Just let me know if you find something. I gotta go." As he left the cafeteria, he felt something vibrate in his pocket.

"Yes?" He asked. From the other end, he heard a female voice speak to him. "Hello Dean, I have an assignment for you. The docks in Middleton are about to send a shipment to an undisclosed location. These docks are influenced by Hench's payroll. I have other agents investigating some of the other businesses Hench owned before his death. But I need you to investigate the docks, apparently he pulled all the stops to make it look like a legitimate ownership, no one can touch it. Legally speaking my hands are tied, same as local police."

"But not me." Ron saw where this was going.

"You're getting the gist of it. If there's anyone imprisoned, you're our best bet of getting them out safe. If this is successful, I can assure your permitted continuance of your… endeavors."

Ron raised a brow. "I still have one problem." He suggested. He looked back at the cafeteria. To see Kim, the redhead didn't stare back at him, most likely she hadn't noticed his appearance.

"She'll be assigned to another objective." Betty said. "There will be explicit orders for her to not pursue you."

Taking his leave, he knew he'd be skipping the remainder of his classes, but that gave him a little bit of concern. He attempted to shrug it off, the only thing that mattered in Middleton was tracking a certain killer. After Felix probed him for information, something got to him. A question that he hadn't asked himself. Even if he did catch and kill this killer, would he return to Japan, or would he remain in Middleton? Can something be made to keep him here? He couldn't answer that… at least not yet.

* * *

Kim had poked at her cafeteria food, barely paying attention to her surroundings. She placed her Kimmunicator upon the table, waiting for Wade or the Director to give her a mission.

"Guess you know about him too, huh?" The redhead looked up to see Monique. A look of pity was on her face, to see Kim like that… it isn't right.

"Yeah." She mumbled. "I just… how does someone do something like that?"

"Girl I dunno… honestly it, it shocked me too. I'm just glad you're ok." She places her hand on Kim shoulder.

"Wait… how did you know about what Ron really is?" She looked at Monique.

"He came by my home, he told me… right to my face girl. Kim… that took guts… he even said that he understood if I didn't wanna see him again." A pause came from her lips, even Kim didn't have a rebuttal. "Kim, he may be a killer, but there's more to it, more than just being a vigilante. I had a lot of time to think about it last night, honestly… he's a mystery, not everything is as it looks."

Kim looks at Monique in her eyes. "Do you think I'm doing right? I mean I… I try to help people, I try to do what I can for them and… somehow… somehow I believe… that he's doing more than me… more than I ever did." Kim doubted herself, which was such an odd occurrence, truly an oddity.

"Kim, I'll tell you this right now… you are a hero. You're a hero in your own way. You don't need a mask or a sword or some organization to say that you are. People can be heroes in their own way. You've shown people that there's a chance for them to be better, you've empowered them with a lot of independence and hope. The difference between you and Ron is that… he's out for blood, hurting people who hurt other people. He carries out some judgement, a brutal, unforgiving judgement. If anything, something drove him to this and he wants revenge, and some people are going to see that as justice. Even I can see that you're different from that. If you and other people see him as a hero, that's your choice… but don't follow his example. Cross that line and you can probably never go back. You're you Kim, don't let anyone or anything change that."

Kim felt an invigorated feeling rising in her chest. The room and everything didn't seem so gloomy and somber. She felt like she could breathe, it was her spirit… her spirit was uplifted by Monique's words. For that, she embraced her.

"Thanks Mon, I really needed that." After that, she heard her Kimmunicator go off.

"Go Wade." Kim said.

"Kim, the Director's got a mission for you. After… what happened, some of his employee's, now that they don't have an employer, are trying to drop off the grid. They're heading into HenchCo Industries and try to steal whatever's there and get out of the city. They could also wipe out evidence of their involvement, maybe start their own companies. We can't let that happen."

"Finally, I get to knock some heads… alright Wade, I'm on it."

Kim rushed out of the school in order, without even seeing Ron. Despite a setback, she desires to press on. She can beat this… she will beat this. Those people don't know what's coming to them. Knowing that she'll encounter him again, she wasn't aching for it just yet… she knows that she can wait.

Round Three can wait.


	17. Haunting Past, Suspicious Present

Chapter 17: Haunting Past, Suspicious Present

 **Hello everyone, it's Dismal again, sorry that it's been a long time since I've updated, I had to worry about a lot of things for college and doing research, this had to be pushed back for a bit. Luckily I was able to finish up this chapter when I could. For those who don't want to waste time reading the author's notes, let's get on with it.**

* * *

Ron's Mission:

Arriving at the docks, Ron looked below to see his targets. "Couple of regular workers, I'd rather not get in the way, much less kill them." Looking even further, he sees a ship docked in the bay. Security looked tight, but these men looked pretty different from the regular workers.

Ron chuckles to himself, "These guys aren't even trying to blend in. Can't they put in a little bit of effort… ok their boss is dead and they're probably not getting paid enough, but still…"

Despite wanting to include Felix in the mission, he didn't want to compromise their secret partnership. If the Director of Global Justice is watching from afar, there's a chance that they'll figure Felix out. He would ensure the hacker's safety before his own.

He took a breath, the brisk winds moving behind him. Remembering this to be a stealth op, in and out. But there isn't rules specifying in killing or sparing them, so there's autonomy there. He leaped down from one ledge, and did a front tuck towards another.

'A bow and some arrows would've done a little justice towards this.' He thought. Keeping in mind, he did pack several shuriken and kunai, he prayed it'll be enough to complete the mission. He sees two people below him having a discussion. People of Hench's payroll from the look and the sound of it.

"So exactly why are we guarding the ship… Jack's dead and we aren't getting paid for this." One guy said.

"Well apparently, word around is that some guys are making a move to take his turf, whatever that's left." The other guy answered.

"Y'know I actually heard of this guy and he might have best chance out of anyone. This guy uhh… Senior Señor… something like that."

"Señor Senior Sr?" Ron mouthed. This guy has to be another member of Kim's little rogues gallery. 'Makes sense for him to even try to take the company from under him… but if he's doing it now, it'll place him at risk if he's trying to remain anonymous.'

"I actually thought Lucre was trying to take over, I mean… he's the advisor, right?"

"They both are… the old guy wants Hench's side hustles and Lucre just wants the company itself."

"I can't see him as a boss, I really can't."

As those guys went back and forth, Ron just sighed. 'Ok, I've had enough.' He jumps down and falls on top of the thug. He rolled toward the second guard and did an oblique kick towards his right knee. As the guard fell forward, Ron hooked his arm around the back of his neck. Applying pressure, the guard jolted upward… with the sound of a neck snapping. Throwing the guard to the side, he approaches the first guard, using his palms to chop him in the throat. He grabs the back of the head, knees him in the stomach, and slams his head onto the shipping containers and stomped on his skull.

Looking up, Ron decided to get to higher ground. Hoping to avoid running into more should they have equal ground. Seeing the ship in front of him, he jumps to the side of it and took cover.

Seeing one of the doors opening up, he sees a man come out with a cigarette in his mouth, using a lighter to make a spark. Taking two kunai from his person, Ron charged at the guy and slit his throat, he then spun around and stab him in the back twice, he then threw him off of the ship. Still armed with the blood soaked knives, he entered the corridors, hoping to find something pertaining to his mission. "Ok, no pressure… find someone who knows about the missing people, free them and get out." He closed his eyes, then sighed under his breath. With that moment of silence, he heard whimpers and cries.

'Getting warmer.' He thought. It sounded like it was below the ship. Seeing a stairwell to his left, he slowly makes his way down there. Why slowly… he could hear footsteps inching closer to him. 'Here we go'.

Ron twirled his knife around and threw it at the unsuspecting guards head. Ron lunged towards him to break his fall. Afterwards he saw a second guard who was spooked by the crash. He lunged at the second one, delivering a flying knee straight to his jaw, breaking it and knocking him unconscious. With one kunai in his left hand, Ron sees a couple of guards charging at him. Slitting the unconscious man's throat, he shrugs his shoulders and prepares himself to face the oncoming threat.

Seeing the first guard closest to him, he uses his right hand to uppercut him in the jaw. He then delivered a left hook, still with the knife in hand, not only did it damage him, but it left a cut on his cheek.

The second guard on his partner's right side tried to attack. The blonde boy slipped away from the punch and placed him in a clinch, he uses his right knee to attack the guard in the abdomen and shoved him to the first guy who attacked him. With both men losing balance, the second guard tried to do a push kick, only for it to be ineffective as Ron moved to his right to dodge it. The blonde boy managed to break the distance and attacks him with a left elbow. He then used his right hand to grab the enemy's wrist and he stabbed him twice, once in the chest, then another to his neck. He then tripped the dying man with his leg so he could fall to the ground.

"Come on!" Ron said under his breath. He charged at one of the guards, driving his shoulders underneath the man's legs, using his hands to grab right behind his knees. The momentum was in his favor. He lifted the man up and went towards the other guard. Throwing him towards the other man, as Ron pushed the guard back, one of them fell, with a sickening crack… to his skull. Ron grabbed the one who remained alive by his shirt. Taking his knife, he stabbed him in the jaw.

Sensing that at least three more guards were coming towards him, he takes the knife that he fought with and threw it onto one of the guy's head. He charged at the second guy by jumping up and delivering a flying head kick. Knocking him away from the fight. Ron attacked the last guy with by placing him in a clinch. He jumped up, grabbing the man's arm and hooking one leg onto the front of his neck and having him fall flat on his back. Placing him in an armbar submission, Ron wasted no time in breaking a bone, leaving the man screaming. The second guy tried to stomp on Ron, only for the boy to roll out of the way and appear behind him. In the end… Ron snapped his neck. The only sounds that came from the room were his breaths, but also… silent weeping. When Ron opened his eyes, his blood ran cold.

"Oh God…" he saw the women imprisoned, most were as young as he was and others were slightly older. Some of their clothes, dirty and tattered. Their makeup blotched all over their faces. Their eyes looked to be in absolute fear, but after looking at the young ninja… they might be able to hope again.

"I'm getting all of you out of here." He said with urgency. "But I need you to stay quiet, calm and do as I say, ok?" Some of them nodded their heads. Taking some lock picks, he was able to unlock the cages one at a time. "Are there anymore people locked up?" He said with urgency. They only said silence, until one spoke.

"N-No, it's just us. They've held us under here, for almost a week. They were taking about… moving us somewhere else tonight." A young girl said.

"Goddammit." Ron muttered under his breath. "You don't have to worry now, I'll take care of this, just… follow me." He takes his sword and leads the group out of the ship.

"Director, the mission is a success, and your worst fears are confirmed. He had a shipment, full of… there were a lot of innocent girls in there. We should get the police on the scene, have them find their families and get them home." At that point, the girls whispered and murmured to each other.

"Is this guy with Global Justice like Kim Possible?"

"I saw him on the news, they say he's killing people."

"I can't believe he saved us, that was amazing."

He would feel elation at whatever compliments were given to him, only if the situation wasn't so dire.

"Thank you." A timid girl said. Ron turned to her and spoke.

"Thank me by getting home safe." He aims his rappel onto a rooftop and swings away. As he was swinging, his phone began to ring, sitting on the ledge of a roof. "Hm, unknown caller." He answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Uh hi, is this Dean?" The caller asked.

"Yes, it is." Ron said. Going into his 'Dean' guise once more.

"Hi Dean, it's Walter, we spoke earlier today." The man said.

"Oh hey, is everything ok?" Ron asked him. He swings his legs back and forth, looking at the docks he previously infiltrated.

"I'm ok, I just wanted to see if you're still on for the fights, they're going to start it in a couple hours."

"Oh yeah, no problem, I'll swing by soon… just had to take care of some stuff for work." He stood up from the ledge and began to stretch. From there, he traveled to the gym and began to wonder aloud to himself.

"Why is it that they need a password like a sentence? 'The reaper's opened the gates'… couldn't they do like a callsign? That'd be easier, and way cooler."

* * *

Kim's Mission:

The redhead was currently crawling in a vent. As silent as she could, Kim was able to find her way into the office of the late CEO of HenchCo Industries. No henchmen were present yet. Activating her Kimmunicator, she could see Wade's face on the screen.

"Ok Wade, I'm in his office… plugging you into his desktop now." She says, placing her hands onto the desk.

"Ok let's see what we got…" the tech specialist got into hacking. "Hmm… looks like we can pin a lot of guys with these files, going in to destroy it now is a lost cause for them. All of this is… oh wow." As Wade conversed with Kim, he found some recent files.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Many bank accounts associated with Hench have been wiped clean, so there's no point in robbing him either. But there's a considerable amount of money that was sent to someone's account and as I was tracing it, a considerable amount of money was wired somewhere important." With a click of a mouse, it confirmed his suspicions.

"Where did it go?" Kim asked.

"Kim, it went to the Middleton Space Center, six million dollars worth. But this was almost 10 years ago… so why would…"

His thoughts were interrupted as an alarm blared, through the building. Kim looked around the area, he didn't see any guards in front of her, but they were entering the building. From the ground floor and the rooftops. It looked to be almost a dozen guards.

"Uh oh, looks like you've got trouble." Wade remarks.

"Yeah, I see it. Did you get all of the files?" Kim asked. Her eyes kept darting towards the exit.

"Yeah, you can unplug the drive, I can do things here on my end." Wade told her.

As she walks away from the desk. She had a choice to make, escape via the rooftop, or head down to street level.

'I'll probably get innocent people in the way if I head down street level. The roofs would be my best bet, as long as I still have my rappel. She headed towards the roof, but as she left the office, the redhead failed to pay attention to the laptop automatically activating protocols beset by the original administrator.

Rushing up the stairwell, the entrance to the roof inching closer with each step. Kim used her strength to burst through the door. Seeing five men in front of her surrounding a chopper, she charged at the one furthest from her and knees him straight in the jaw. As she rolls out of the way, she takes a small device and throws it onto the chopper as it flies away from the fight. Moving away from a thug that tried to kick her face, she moved behind him and used her right elbow to attack the leg that balanced him during the kick, causing him to fall on the ground. Two other thugs would charge at her after the attack.

She used a right leg kick on one guy, followed with a left uppercut. She then saw a left hook coming from the second guy and weaves away from the attack. She then delivers a push kick, causing them to be off balance for a bit. The two other men decided to charge at her. The first guy tried to take her down, only for him to be redirected to the ground with a trip. The next guy actually did tackle her, but what he didn't know, was that Kim used the opportunity to grab his exposed arm and uses her own to wrap around it, the objective of wrapping it until it broke… which was successful.

As the man rolled onto his back in agony after the submission lock. Kim got up and did an oblique kick to one of the guys left leg, then the redhead places him in a head clinch, delivering punishing knee shots to the body, before taking him down with an outside trip. Seeing a guy getting to close, she decides to distance herself from the fight, backing away as the guy went forward.

Seeing the guy about to perform a right hook, she decides to use her left hand to grab and trap his hand, following up with an elbow to the throat and a hip toss to the ground. If that wasn't enough, Kim decided to place him in a submission hold, not so different from the first one… only difference was that the arm bent the other way. Two guys, incapacitated with a broken arm for each of them.

Kim attacks the next guard, performing a tornado kick to one side of his face, then punching him on the other side of it. Leaving him to fall down unconsciously.

"Kim, five more guys are coming, but you needed to get out of there, the place is rigged to blow!"

"What?" She mumbled under her breath. As she kept the fight going, backup arrived. As she wailed on the last guy by kneeing him in the jaw about three times. She threw him away from her. As all of them began to circle around, she felt the ground shake beneath her as a loud boom came from the building. One of the blasts had separated her from the thugs, as the explosion rocked the rooftops of the building, Kim somehow was knocked off, but some of the men were caught up in it. There was no way to rescue them, the buildings exit points were probably blocked either by debris or fire.

As she fell, the explosion rocked her, having her nearly slip into an unconscious state. A gasp of breath, her eyes opened wide, she quickly acted on instinct, and used her rappel to move herself toward another building, falling safely onto one of the rooftops.

She lies spread eagle, with the sun in her face. The sound of fire trucks and police cars, rushing towards the blazing flames were already present. They could take it from here, the redhead was sure of it. Kim was catching her breath, sitting up while she does. She sighs "I think I should call it a day, maybe get some sleep." She stands up, looking back at the burning building. She shoots her rappel and decides to head home.

Changing from her mission gear to her pajamas. She rests on her bed, the soft mattress alleviating the soreness of her muscles and removing a good amount of stress from her mind. She decides to contact Wade, wanting to know something that might help her.

"Wade, I have a question… you said that Hench gave fifteen billion dollars to the Space Center, why would he do something like that? It's out of his character, even I can tell that." She asked. Something like this was hounding her for some reason, other than the fact that her father works there.

"I've been reviewing the records from now and ten years ago. Financially, Hench was having a notable decline during that period, though I don't know why. But somehow, during that period in time, some employees were murdered, those who dealt with his lucrative dealings at least."

"Jack wouldn't have taken that lying down, especially if it was costing him." She rolled to her left side.

"Yeah, so if that's the case. The 6 million wasn't a donation… if anything… it was a bounty."

"A bounty… for who… and why?"

"I don't know, but after that, everything went uphill for him afterwards."

"So if it was a bounty, that means someone from the Space Center… killed someone?" A pause went through the both of them. Wade exhaled and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"It's likely. Yes."

"Thanks Wade, I'll leave you to it."

Ending the call from Wade, she precedes to write in her diary.

 _'_ _Something's going on… more than I realize. Something that happened ten years ago, when I was a kid… a bounty on someone's head and the Middleton Space Center just takes that kind of money without question. I know my Dad wouldn't take the money, much less commit murder. But one of his colleagues, I can't even imagine. I keep thinking there's something more to this… but what could possibly…'_

Before she could finish the sentence, a news report came in, one that she was interested in. The reporter announced herself and began to spill the story. "Here in the Middleton docks, police have raided the docks to find many people held against their will, victimized by a human trafficking ring. Eyewitnesses reported a vigilante rushing into the docks and murdering those involved with the imprisonment of the young women. As a group of those imprisoned encountered the police, they began to raid the ship, only to find shipping manifests showing that the ship was to leave for tonight, along with more dead bodies of suspects involved. One of the victims released a statement."

"It was horrible… these guys kidnapped so many of us and… and then this guy comes in with a sword and saves our lives… can't believe I'm saying it, but he's a hero."

'Guy with a sword.' Kim sat up, looking and listening attentively as the story unravels. She knew full well who it was… Ron. As the reporter said more to it, another statement from one of the victims came.

"If it wasn't for him, I don't think any of us would be alive right now. I thought he was some crazy killer, but… he's not… I mean he saved us."

"There you have it." The reporter concludes with her name and news network. She turned off the tv and began to write again.

'O _k… back to it. Bounty… connection to my Dad's job, yadda yadda yadda. There's a connection and I need to find it… and if I'm trying to find it… that means Ron is too. Something bad's gonna happen… I know it.'_

 _Feeling: 'Worried' (More than usual)_


	18. Fight Night

Gathering his nerves, quickly pacing himself towards the address written in the note, Ron had to remember to hide most of his gear. The last thing he would want for himself was to show up with a bag that screamed: "Look at me, I'm the vigilante."

"Just a block away…" he mumbles as he inches closer. Taking careful glances at his surroundings, he noticed no one was following him, which was good for him. No way would he be able to wear a mask or anything like that during the matches, he'll have to settle for his civilian guise.

Taking a sharp breath, he bangs on the door. A slide opened in front of the door, revealing a heavily bearded man with a shaved head. The man didn't say anything to Ron, rather staying silent. The blonde boy took his cue to say the code word.

"The Reaper's opened the gates." Upon hearing those words, the man opened the door for him. He entered without batting an eyelash, the stench of cigar smoke and alcohol permeated the area. He saw another person leaning on the wall.

"Sorry kid, standard procedure, can't have weapons in here." He said as he was prepared to check him.

"Fine by me." The man searched him to see if anything as such was present… to his surprise… there weren't any on his person.

"Follow me." The man said. He went down the steps to hear bombastic music along with the screams and cheers of audience members. Looking at the crook luring him to the caged ring. He turned to speak to him.

"Question… how do I get to see the big man in charge of this?" Ron asks.

The man scoffs "You wanna see the big man, you're gonna have to prove that you can survive this ring. Lotta guys like you ask the same thing… you don't need me to tell you how that turned out. By the way, you'll need to remove your shirt." He answers.

"Tch, fine by me." He says as he takes it off, placing it atop his shoulders. He gives it to the guy without looking at him. His attention was focused on the opponents fighting in the ring. A bald burly man with brown eyes and a stubble for a beard fighting a young blonde man. The younger man was at a disadvantage, for he has a bleeding lip, a bloody nose and his consciousness slipping away from him as time progresses.

The man got up close to him, the younger man's body was pressed against the cage as the older man attacked him with hooks to the ribs, seeing that it was unguarded and his opponent was protecting his face. With the last hook, the man instinctively held his ribs, leaving his face open for a left uppercut, knocking him out in the process.

The cheers grew louder as the muscular man reveled and savored his victory. His smile and laughter revealed a missing tooth and a silver molar. For the loser, his bruised pride and nearly broken body was dragged out of the ring by the 'officials'.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, that was a spectacular fight, but I know that this isn't gonna be the end for tonight… so what do we say for another challenge?"

The people cheered at the announcer's commentary. Some of the officials gave Ron hand wraps. Least it looked sanitary and smelled new, otherwise, the blonde boy would see this establishment in a lower expectation. As he was wrapping his hands, the announcer told the gamblers to place their bets in the ring. The officials knew that Ron was going to be here… well they know him as Dean, so that'll take something off his shoulders.

The people were clamoring among who was going to come out of the fight on top, some mentioned 'Dean' since the last guy was in two other fights and was losing stamina as the matches were ongoing for him. Others still placed bets on the big man since they see Ron as some rookie or a bum fighter.

With raw focus and a closed heart, he entered the cage, waiting for the bell to ring for his upcoming battle.

' _Ding Ding_ '

The bell sounded as the two opponents circled each other. Ron saw the man looking down on him, believing that his size and unknown experience would be enough to intimidate his enemy.

He faked a charge, trying to get Ron to flinch, but he didn't move away, in fact, the tactic failed to scare him.

In fact, it only annoyed Ron.

He sighed inward and walked toward the big man, desiring to end the fight as soon as possible.

The man charged at the young ninja, aiming to perform a takedown. Ron sidestepped and tripped him, leading him to fall onto the gate face first. Before the man could even get his footing, Ron ran forward, jumped with the momentum he had and delivered a flying knee to the man's temple. He staggered and fell to the other side of the cage. As he got his footing, he could see a glimpse of Ron's movements as he pressed him against the cage and started to perform several jabs and hooks onto his torso, hoping to bruise or maybe break a couple of ribs. He ended a combination with a left uppercut and took a step back.

Not learning his mistake, the man charged at Ron again. But this time, Ron countered with an oblique leg kick, it caused the man to jolt forward and exposed himself to be in a head clinch. As Ron placed his hands on the back of the neck of his opponent, he took his right knee and attacked his ribs twice, his last attack went for his face.

Ron then grabbed his left arm with his left hand, then he used his left leg to use his opponents leg as a step ladder, his right leg went over the opponent's head and wrapped itself onto the front of his neck. Ron's momentum caused the man to fall forward to the ground. Meaning only one particular event happened to him: Ron successfully performed a flying armbar.

But rather than snapping the man's arm, he went to stand with the submission hold, while he held one of his arms with his own. Ron used his free arm to bash his enemies head in. The more punches were delivered, the less of a struggle it became, as his consciousness drifted away from him. The officials stopped the fight, pushing Ron off of his enemy, and declaring him the winner. Depending on who the crowd was, some were happy that they bet on the right horse, others were none too pleased.

"Would you look at that! A stunning victory by a new face here in the arena, but if I may be so bold to say, would he survive his second opponent?!" Some cheered at the prospect of him doing so, other jeered that he would not. But it wouldn't matter to him, as long as he earns the favor of these guys in order to get close to the boss and Walter and any other people in his 'debt', it's enough for him.

"Alright, lets give Dean Andrews a fighter of his speed… so place your bets and let's see for ourselves if he's got what it takes!" The announcer says.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we've known this fighter when he stepped into this ring, he amazed us, because of him, we won a lot of bets with him…" the crowd chuckled at that. "But more importantly… he knew how to get this crowd pumping." May I present to you, the main event for tonight, the 'Hunter Killer', the Hellstorm… KYLE Q. LUSS!"

The crowd was ecstatic upon seeing the boy of Ron's age, brown hair, shaved on both sides, yet a strip of long hair remained at the center. His dark brown eyes focused just like his. A noticeable scar on his shoulder exposed itself as he took of his shirt. A tattoo of a Bowie knife stabbing a snake was located on his left wrist.

"Heh, so you're the new guy." Kyle said. He rotated his right shoulder three times.

"Just trying to see the big guy upstairs." Ron said.

"Gonna have to get through me first." Kyle finished.

Kyle and Ron walked toward each other, the blonde boy starting with a push kick emanating from his left leg which Kyle sidestepped, Ron then followed up his attack with a right leg kick, which landed on Kyle's body, then tried a left hook to his jaw, but it was ducked, only hitting air.

As Kyle dodged the attack, he then performed a right uppercut, which was actually a feint.

Ron noticed it at the last minute. 'He faked me out?!' His mind screamed as he was hit with a left hook. Ron staggered back and felt a pair of arms wrapped around his torso. He then felt his body rising from the ground, from behind Kyle lifted and slammed him violently onto the floor. Kyle had the dominant position, he was hoping to place him in a rear naked choke from his current position. A pair of hands were guarding his neck and a pair of legs was rising from the ground and pressing Kyle onto the cage.

"Nothing personal man, it's just for the cash." Kyle remarked to him.

Using a free hand to punch Kyle continuously in the face, with his weight pressuring the fighter onto the cage. Ron wrapped his hand onto his opponents torso, preparing himself in the mental and physical aspects. He performed a judo hip toss, delivering sweet revenge and gaining the upper hand.

"AAAH!" He groaned. "Dick!" He called Ron.

The crowd was cheering at this fight. Both fighters were experienced and were putting on a good show. It even caught the eye of the ringmaster, looking intrigued by this battle. It was usually average guys and the fights may have been exciting at first, but unlike his patrons, their combat grew lackluster, for there was barely any creativity, any excitement… any elegance. He would've dared to gamble on one of the boys, he felt the blonde had a better chance… but the last thing that someone would want to leave a business decision to, is chance.

Back to Ron, he got up from slamming Kyle and placed him in a head clinch, delivering knee shots to the body, then pushing him away from him. Kyle tried to do a push kick as well, but Ron shot for his opposite leg. As his arms wrapped around Kyle's leg that balanced him, he hoisted him and slammed him to the ground once more. Taking him down via single leg, he tried to attack him while in half guard, showing his prowess in wrestling beforehand.

Kyle escapes from his position, he sees another leg kick that was going to hit his body. It landed, but he also had the time to grab it, leaving Ron to hop for balance. The crowd believed that the Ron was going to be slammed like his opponent did. But that counter only served as an idea for him. He got close enough to hook one of his arm on the back of the neck of the boy styling a Mohawk. Ron then wrapped his legs around the boy's grabbing arm, preventing it to escape.

"Oh no! Screw that!" Kyle said as he knew what he was in for and desperately attempted to escape his predicament.

Kyle fell forward, he was placed in a chokehold. He tried to slip his arm away from the tight grasp. His other hand attempted to pry Ron's hand away from the submission, with no success. Slowly but surely, he lost consciousness, he didn't want to tap out, he didn't want to lose the battle and yet, he's lost his strength, his body could no longer take the pressure. He didn't tap, but he did pass out.

The officials pried Ron and Kyle apart, announcing the blonde boy to be the winner. One of the guys who escorted him to the ring came up to him.

"You wanted to see the big guy right? Now's your chance."

He cracked his neck. "Ok." He took a look at the martial artist he faced. 'Well I survived him, but he's not as good as Kim though. But I'll give him credit for tagging me with that punch.'

Making his way upstairs with him and another guy tailing them, the door opens to a middle aged man donning a fancy suit. He chuckled to himself while looking outside his window.

"That was beautiful y'know, taking out that first guy was one thing… but Kyle gives those bums a run for their money. But when I saw that fight, I looked at you and I thought to myself; 'This guy looks like he's already won'. Y'know I could use a guy like you, the pay's good, and maybe soon enough, you'll be a champion in this arena. I know it's been two fights, but I know potential when I see it."

"Hm, that's sounds promising…" Ron says. "But I'm here on business as well."

"Is that right?" The man asked him.

Ron rubs his nose. "Yeah, I was hoping to help pay off a debt, good friend of mine got himself into some trouble."

"Hmm… it wouldn't be that old guy down at that old gym was it? I forget his name… what was it?"

He could feel his eye twitch at his subtle yet snide remark. "Is there a way to repay the debt, without that much of a hassle? Honestly, I like the fights here, well being in one mostly."

"Hm, kid… there's no way that you should pay back that debt, much less get yourself involved in that kind of mess." He said as he laid back on his chair. "Now, the job offer, that still stands… so whaddya say?"

The two men behind him were waiting for Ron's answer, preparing themselves to clock him if he made got any stupid ideas.

"Why not, I like this stuff anyway, but I'd like to say one more thing…" his eyes and the tone of his voice shifted into a serious one. "You've should've taken the damn deal.

He elbowed the guy on his right, kneed his left opponent and removed his pocket knife. He grabbed the right guy's hand and pulled him close enough to stab him in the temple of his skull. As he pulled the knife out, he slit the other guy's throat and then threw the knife at the boss's shoulder. It caused him to fall on his chair, gritting his teeth and groaning in agony. His head was sweating at the prospect of being so vulnerable at a time like this, Ron lunged towards him and placed his hand on the knife, pressuring the wound even more.

"Y'know, it's interesting to me, a guy gets into debt, you tell me to stay out of it, considering that the man's a friend of mine. Ay-yi-yi, this does not look good for you. Now… here's why I'm really here… you put a lotta people in debt right, break legs, property and all that classic crap but uhh… you've got a lot of clients from what I've heard."

The man tried to use his free hand, only to feel the blade twisting deeper, causing pain excruciating for him.

"I really wouldn't do that, trust me. I mean this is coming from a stubborn guy. Wait, where was I?" Ron zoned out for a split second, wanting to remember his answer. "Oh yeah, you're going to free all of your clients from debt, no more of this loan sharking BS." Ron flicked the mouse of the man's desktop and pressed random keys. The computer was unlocked, meaning there wasn't a need to reenter a password. "Huh, and you're doing you're debt stuff right now, convenient."

"Boy, stay away from…" he couldn't finish his sentence since he felt Ron punch him in his throat.

"Could you not say anything? I'm trying to work here, thank you." He says as he goes through a plethora of accounts that were indebted to him. It didn't take long, but he was able to expunge all his clientele or victims from paying whatever they allegedly owed to this crooked bastard.

"Ok, now that that's done…" Ron took the knife from the man's shoulder and stabbed it into his chest. "Ok, can't go back down there without making me suspicious, I'll need a diversion or maybe I'll just sneak out, find a way out of this. He looked around to see a fire alarm. He had an idea… but it was a bad one and he wouldn't believe it would work. He looked under the late boss's desk and tried to see if there was any silent security alarms that would be present.

'Hmm… to my luck. But if I can't sneak past, them, I'll have to fight my way through. Well they'll mostly want to see the corpse of their boss…' He looks outside to the arena, 'I could find a breaker, shut it all off while I make my way out of there in the dark, their line of sight would be limited, as would mine. But that's the best chance I've got…' he looked around and saw what he wanted in the same room. 'Bingo.'

Ron set his plan into motion, he opened the main breaker to reveal the several switches, labeled. He went back to the desk and pressed the alarm at the bottom of the desk, some of the guards were on alert and rushed to the office. Ron quickly shut off all the electricity, causing commotion to run rampant, whether for the audience or for the security team. So far, everything was good. Then, he pulled the fire alarm, hoping that it would mask any sound he would make, if the alarm alone didn't, then the panicking of the crowd did. Next he hid in the room, waited patiently for the team to show up, as they opened the door, they spread across the room, flashlights in hand, seeing his chance, Ron escaped the room with no one detecting him, retaining his memory of the area, along with several flashlights from other people's phones, he made his way to the entrance, taking his shirt and walking out of the door.

He couldn't relax yet, as he got further away from the arena, he went to find his gear. Equipping it, and getting away as soon as possible.

"Alright, now one last stop." He muttered to himself.

* * *

Middleton General Hospital

The days went slowly for a young teen in the medical center, the days couldn't end fast enough for him to tolerate. How he would wish to go back out and just do what he needed to do… but for some reason, some scared thug's random actions caused all of it to come crashing down.

Ned was bored, an arm was in a cast, a bandage covering his cheek, and his eye was finally recovering from the swelling it endured. Even if the doctors were doing their job, he'd like it if they laid off on checking his vitals at inconvenient times.

"He's in this room right here sir." One of the nurses said.

"Thank you." The voice of someone else said. He could deduce that it was someone other than his parents.

"Hey Ned." Ron greeted. "Sorry I didn't show up earlier, I was held up with some things."

"It's okay… kinda boring here anyway, so you're not missing much." He tried to adjust himself on his hospital bed. "My parents came here not too long ago, they visit for the most part, so I'm not really lonely."

"How are you holding up after the… y'know?" Ron had genuine sincerity in his voice, to see a good person like him in this state, he may have been an oddball but he didn't deserve this.

"Yeah I'm ok, a couple more days and I'll be on my feet again." Ned paused to look at Ron's face. "What happened to you?" He asked. "You look like you've gotten into a lot of trouble."

He could do nothing but sigh. "Yeah, I uhh… had to help some people out… same as you… and uhh…" Ron cleared his throat. "It wasn't pretty."

Ned sighed at his response. "Why did I have a feeling that you would say something like that?"

"I dunno…" Ron leaned on the wall with the window right by his shoulder. "Listen uhh… I get it… I mean if you don't wanna work at Bueno Nacho again, I can maybe help you find somewhere else to work. It's the least I can do."

"You kidding?" Ned asked. "Look it's nice of you to look after me like this but… Bueno Nacho didn't put me in a hospital, much less a cast. It wasn't always like that, with the protection rackets and everything… and now it's starting to make a comeback as a regular hangout. Getting jumped like that doesn't just happen there, it can happen almost anywhere if you're not careful. I'll still work at Bueno Nacho, but it's because of you it's safer. Also, I heard about…" Ned didn't wish to finish the sentence.

"Yeah… you don't have to say anything else." Ron lamented, seeing as he knows that it's referring to the murder that happened not too long before his hospitalization.

"Listen Ron, you're a good guy and all, but can I ask you… when was the last time you actually just took a break?"

Ron took his cue to sit down on a chair facing the teen's hospital bed. "I had time to spend with Monique but…" he drifted away from conversation after remembering that he revealed to her his ultimate secret. He didn't know why, but there was a connection, with her, Ned, Felix, and even Kim to a degree.

A connection he'd swore to never create.

Middleton was nothing but a town to him, merely hunting grounds for killing scum that stalk the streets and harm innocents… even so he was born here.

People here teemed with different personalities, different outlooks, yet they befriended him. He had some mutual feelings towards that as well, despite knowing that he had a mission, and his goal was to achieve it and vanish.

He never actually took a break, he simply blended in, with accordance to the mission parameters he beset for himself.

So he never took a break. "I guess I never did." Ron mumbles.

"See, there it is. You've been looking after guys like me… but what about you? It's not gonna hurt you to get out and live a little y'know. Heck if you wanna talk with Monique like you did… it's fine too. Your life is more than just working and surviving… your life is something that YOU should live."

Ned's advice resonated within Ron's mind. The blonde boy got up and tapped the teen's uninjured shoulder. "Ok man, I have to go, it's getting late for me."

"Ok Ron and hey…" The blonde boy turned to face him. "Getting a pet to look after is good for you too."

With that Ron departed, but as he was… he contacted Walter, the gym owner. Giving him the great news of him being free from debt, followed with his money being returned to him.

The old man was elated towards hearing the news, with the money being returned to him… with interest, he would be able to make some repairs and buy new equipment. Renovated enough and this gym can bring in revenue than it did previously, even so, it may take awhile. Walter decided to award Ron, however he decided that he would wait until tomorrow, should the blonde teen decide to show.

"Getting a pet huh? Hmm… maybe that wouldn't be…" Before he could think about it further… Felix contacts him.

"I take it everything went ok with the gym problem?"

"Yeah, everything's settled. I'm thinking I should be able to take a break from what I'm doing for awhile." He exited the hospital and stood in front of the entrance.

"That's something… what brought that up?" Felix asked in curiosity.

"I dunno… I guess talking with Ned… well he has a point. I mean, shouldn't I more than just a killer? It's just… there's more here to do and… it wouldn't hurt to live a little." Ron said.

"Hey, it's your life man… but I found something out… something unreal." Felix said. Upon mentioning it, he felt his throat swell upon speaking. "Ok umm, six million dollars was sent towards the Middleton Space Center, courtesy of Jack right? But I cross referenced that amount of cash and it's purposes to old phone records and emails… and I found out that the money wasn't a donation… it was a bounty. Apparently it went to the Robotics division, in particular."

Ron paid particular attention towards this. "Give me a list of every single individual who were employed at the Space Center when the bounty was issued. Also pay particular attention to those in the Robotics Division. I also like a date as to when the bounty was issued and terminated. If it's what I'm thinking, then I'm already close."

"Ron, that's fine but… Kim's father works there as well… but he's a rocket scientist. He's a good man and… Kim and you have a… thing… but not her family man… can you at least promise me that?" Felix begged him.

"He's got nothing to worry about, unless it was him who killed my parents. But there's still something that I need to solve. Hench had the cash, the killer did the deed, but who gave the order?" All of this circulated in Ron's mind as he walked home. He didn't want his mind to dwell on these matters any more than he has to.

He needed time for himself, time to live as a teenager… and make amends along the way.


	19. Nothing Is What It Seems, Enter Rufus

Chapter 19: Nothing Is What it Seems, Enter Rufus

Kim woke up in the morning, stretching her arms and legs. Her toes had curled and she had yawned while rubbing her eyes. During the night, she had a dream. A dream of fighting a man wearing a demonic mask that smiled at her. A mask that looked like it was from some Kung-Fu movies she'd seen in the past. The enemy dared to hide his face, yet for what reason? It looked sadistic, it mocked her with the smile, created a feeling of discomfort that jolted inside her, it dared to look at her as if death itself stood before her.

Subliminally it did, the man fought with such ferocity, his strikes were filled with the intent of killing her. The man was composed, strategizing and dominating the battle from a cerebral standpoint. As time progressed, his composure was lost and he fought like an unhinged animal. His aggressiveness started to show, the intensity of his attacks were taking a toll on his body, to which the redhead capitalized and turned the fight to her favor.

Before he could pierce Kim's shoulders with the blade he had, Kim slipped from the attack, dodging it completely, this was the finale, the coup de grace… using her right hand, she swung at the man's face, not only knocking him down, but she broke the mask covering his face. She could only see the back of his head, blonde locks spilled and kissed the ground as he failed to make a move. As she turned his head, she saw that it was of course Ron's face.

Rather to see an unconscious face nearly contorted with pain with the look of defeat plastered upon him. Rather, he looked as if he'd given up… eyes devoid of hope, body refusing to move even a single muscle, not even a twitch of a finger. The grip on his blade loosened completely as the hilt fell beneath him. By the time Kim turned him to see her face, the blade fell with a clang.

Kim expected him to land a cheap shot, a sucker punch to the gut, a fancy flip to slash her right in the knee, she'd even settle for a head butt or a kidney punch.

But it never came…

She found herself to be in a winning position, yet was uncomfortable in the outcome. Kim didn't know why she'd feel that, especially since he'd somewhat traumatized her when he murdered those criminals on the last mission. Notably, the redhead shouldn't pity him, yet she did.

Those empty eyes moved to look towards her own, and it felt as if it was staring into her soul. She felt a vice gripping her heart, the cold air made her shiver and her mind ran amok. It was then he spoke similar words to their last encounter.

" _You don't know what that's like… not like I do._ " It didn't hold that bombastic strength, the energy, much less the malicious intent hidden away. _"I'm not right, but it doesn't mean I'm wrong_." A sense of deja vu came over her as she remembers those words he spoke, the same as their first mission together. As she paid attention to his voice, she felt water rising to her ankles.

" _We're fighting for the same thing_." After he said that, she felt water rise to her ankles, then dragged her and Ron down. Before she could be dragged deeper into the depths, Ron's hand pushed her towards the surface, she felt herself rising while witnessing her adversary being dragged deeper, everything went black for her and she heard that same sentence.

 _"We're fighting for the same thing."_ She woke up, gasping for breath at that point. She wondered about the importance of the dream that came upon her. What was the significance of that smiling, yet demonic mask? Why did Ron lose his composure during the fight? What's the point of the water dragging them down? Why did Ron go out of his way to save her and let himself go further into the depths?

She wanted to discount it as just some fantasy, and maybe it is… but she couldn't shake off the feeling that it could be something realistic.

While on the subject, there was a particular matter that took root in her mind: the bounty that funded the Middleton Space Center's robotics division.

Her father was simply a rocket scientist, he even befriended many of his colleagues. To hear that is own job accepted blood money, the scandals that are happening underneath, or soon to follow… one thing's for sure: Kim wouldn't let her own father get caught up in this.

Hearing the Tweebs rush down the steps after their Mom and Dad call them for breakfast, she slipped on an outfit and began to walk her way down.

"Good morning everyone." Her mother cheerily says. She smiles at her children while her father helps set the tables in preparation for the meal to follow. They all greeted her and James alike.

They ate and had their morning conversations, nothing out of the ordinary, just as average as they come… from their perspective anyway. Kim took a glance at her father, who smiled at her.

"Morning Kimmie, how are you doing today?" He asked.

"I'm ok." She says. "Hey Dad, could I ask you something about the Space Center? It's really important." She stressed the last part.

His face changed from a normal upbeat smile to a concerned parent. "Is everything ok?"

"No…" Kim paused. "The robotics division, do you know how it started? I'm working on a mission and I was hoping you'd know something." She said.

James hands fidgeted, despite having a hold on a newspaper. He sighed, tapping the pages. "The robotics division was there longer than I was… but here's what I remember. The division there had a bit of a snag… retiring or fired employees, less funding from their normal benefactors, more people taking interest in other fields… things like that. They also needed funding for more state of the art technology, to keep up with modern day research."

Kim nodded her head… all of this appeared to be a slight setback in the center, this whole bounty happened when she was a little kid, she smiled inwardly at the memory of how small she was, how she was going to be a big sister. To remember something so innocent was to reveal something so sinister.

That was when Anne added her piece. "I actually remember something about that. New people were coming in, interested in robotics and they got the things they needed. Now that I think about it, the timing was too convenient." She said as she dug into her breakfast.

James agreed. "Yeah, it was. No one even questioned the fortune and timing of it all. Only people who would've known about it would've been the board of directors, they know more about the external fundings from other sources than our usual ones."

"Does anyone stand out to you in particular, who knows this stuff?"

James took a breath. "Ahhh… Wanda Wong… she's our current Chairman, but before that, she was an Executive Director. What's going on Kim, is everything ok?" He asked.

At that point Kim couldn't lie, much less keep a poker face, considering it was already seen through. "I think someone might be after the Space Center. Umm… what happened was that Jack Hench brought this six million dollar bounty out on someone, and once it was fulfilled they…" Kim struggled to find the correct words, the more she spoke, the more her nerves got the better of her. "They used that money or some of it for funding. I feel that, the vigilante he's gunning for someone there."

"Oh jeez." Anne voices her concern. "You don't think he's after your father, do you?" The thought of her loving husband being stalked by a killer filled her with dread. She knew James, he wouldn't willingly fulfill a bounty, much less accept one.

Accept one…

"No. Kim responded. "If it was someone from the robotics division, it narrows the search. Since Dad's a rocket scientist he's has nothing to worry about. I just want him to keep an eye out."

"Well Kimmie-cub you don't have to worry about anything. I'll be sure to keep an eye out." He sits up from the table. "Alright, I gotta go, so long." He hugs his daughter, kisses his wife and ruffles both of the twins heads.

"Speaking of which, Kimmie, you should get going to, don't wanna be late for school." As he left the house. A cold feeling gripped Kim's spine. The feeling of encountering Ron again, with that hidden malice, the intent to kill. He never showed it to the school, much less anyone close to him… but she remembered how he showed it to her and Jack. All of this for a bounty…

'The bounty…'

That's the connection to Jack Hench, the Space Center and Ron himself. She stormed out of the house without saying a word. She had a realization, a bounty fulfilled meant that someone was killed… whomever was killed must've been close to Ron… close enough to have something in him snap and hell bent on this vengeful mission. This month hadn't passed, but there was already thirty to fifty confirmed kills all of which were done by an anonymous killer, all victims had a criminal record and were participating in a crime.

That conversation popped into her head. _"You talk about… families ripped apart… you don't know what that's like… not like I do."_ That had to have been Ron's slip of the tongue. Not only that, she's got another lead on her investigation.

She pulls out her Kimmunicator attempting to contact Wade, it took awhile for him to answer, but it finally went through.

"Hey Kim, what's going on?" He asks.

"Wade, I think I have a new lead… on the bounty that went down." She smiles.

"Really… spill." Wade sat attentively.

"I need you to find any records of a Ron Stoppable, blonde hair, about my age, family tree, whatever you can dig up."

"Ok lemme check…" Wade does some typing and something came up… although there's wasn't much to go on. "Ok, this is strange. We have his name and regular physical attributes but…"

"But what?"

"There's nothing here notable about him, if there were… it's long gone. We do have his education, citizenship… normal stuff, but that's it. He's basically a ghost who just showed his face. I can't access anything more than that right now."

Kim sighed. It seems as if Wade hit a roadblock on identifying Ron. Him being a normal person, when he's clearly not. What about medical or flight records… if he's been traveling or got injured, something had to be on file.

"What if we find something about him or his family on old newspaper articles… there's gotta be a lead."

Wade tapped his chin. Thinking of an idea that'll supplement the investigation. "Ok, if I can find the exact date when the Robotics center accepted the funding, then there's a high chance that whomever was murdered because of the bounty was killed prior to that. Try a range of three to four weeks and that'll be a good chance the murder happened then. The robotics division got their funding when your father started right… so that means this happened when…" The hacker drifted away from the conversation, knowing the realization of it all.

Kim wasn't stupid, she knew exactly what Wade didn't want to say: it happened during her days as a toddler, which means whatever tragedy Ron suffered, he suffered at that age.

She sighed. "It's ok… but listen… this stays between us… I'll deal with him myself." With that she cut the transmission. Even if she loved being a hero, she couldn't trust Global Justice with this whole Ron issue. Team Impossible would resort to combative methods to subdue the ninja and boast of their victory. That had a small chance of happened since the team got their asses handed to them. Will Du… he's more of an annoyance, thinking that he's the top agent and all that. He'll try to perform duties above his jurisdiction if it meant capturing Ron…

Her blood ran cold at the thought, if Team Impossible were inept at taking the case, then Will would've already taken it by now. Knowing Will, he's throw whatever's at his disposal take a huge gambit for the capture. 'No… he can take care of himself.' Kim thought. 'Ron's eluded us for awhile, if he could take me and Team Impossible, he'll definitely handle Will.'

* * *

With Ron:

Ron decided to take an early walk to school, followed with a cup of green tea to help with the recovery of his body. 'Gotta start taking care of myself more.' He thought. Seeing the school doors open to his surprise, he decided to simply walk in. Taking another sip of his drink, his mind felt relaxed… relaxed enough to think of what he'd do today.

Checking out the Smarty-Mart first sounds like a good idea, since he had time to… spend before school even started. Tugging at his collar, he headed to this destination as a burst of cold air touched his skin. He looked around to see if there was any type of pets to adopt. It took him back to a distant time, Ron always wanted a pet to befriend, but there was one thing that kept him from having one: his father.

Not so much as his father, but rather his allergic reactions to fur. It caused so much strife to see if there were any hairless animals available. There was a time where a stray Golden Retriever came to the house, Ron looked from the window. His mom would examine the collar and contact the people who'd lost their animal. When the dog and his father came into close proximity, that's when he found out why. Fortunately for him he wasn't afflicted with similar reactions to fur.

He'd look at some of the animals there, a couple dogs here, cats there, but he didn't want just any animal. A part of him would like to honor his late father's wish and not have a furry pet in the house. Another part is that since he's a vigilante, he's needs to make sure the pet is capable of not messing up the house, or better yet accompany him on his ventures.

He looked to his left smiling at some goldfish. Unaware that something crept into his pocket. Taking a look at his watch, it looked to be thirty minutes before school started. He sipped his tea again, the muscles from his chest to his shoulders relaxing afterwards. As he took a couple steps, he felt something scurry in his pocket, as if it was trying to rearrange itself. Taking his fingers, he pinched whatever it was and picked it up. It was definitely an odd animal; a naked mole rat for a precise description.

But while it was a naked mole rat, there were attributes that said something else. He was wrinkle free for one thing, his eyes were open for the most part and he was about four inches.

It struggled to free itself from Ron's grip, his little hands and feet thrashing about. It only caused the blonde boy to smile. "Heh… feisty little guy aren't ya?" The naked mole rat chittered and pointed at a direction, it looked like one of the workers rushing towards him.

She was eyeing the little thing in Ron's hand. "Oh, I'm so sorry…" she says. "The little rascal must've gotten out of his cage somehow. I hope he didn't give you any trouble."

Ron eyed the pet again. 'An escape artist too, huh?' His mind thought. "No, that's ok. He must be a handful huh?" He chuckled.

"Yeah." She scratched the back of her head. "I mean I started working here a week ago and he's always trying to leave the place." She held her hand out for the little naked mole rat.

Seeing the little trickster in his hands, Ron realizes that for an animal he's quite cunning. "Actually, I was here hoping to adopt the little dude. Might as well take him off of your hands y'know." The animal crawled up to Ron's shoulder.

"He does seem to like you, even though you two just met." They walked together to the registry, with Ron hoping to adopt the pet."

"Hey, this might be random, but does the little guy have a name?" He asked.

"Not that I know of, no." The lady answered. Ron looked at the creature and he simply shrugged his shoulders, saying he didn't know his name either.

"Alright, let's fix that. What name would you like little buddy?" He opens his palm in order to get a look at him without glancing at his shoulders. "George?"

The animal shook its head.

"Ok. Will?" Ron suggested.

Another shook to his head indicated a no.

"How bout I call you Nancy, since you can't make up your mind?" Ron teased. He was met with blowing raspberries and rejections.

"Ok, I'm just messing with you. Max and Rex are too cliche… Pinky's a little degrading…" Ron snapped his fingers with an idea popping into his head. "Rufus! That's sounds like a good name! What do you think?"

The creature replied with two thumbs up, a sign of approval.

"Ok, it's official. Your name will now be Rufus."

"You two really are a good pair. Come over to the desk here and we'll make the adoption official." The lady went to get the papers for Ron to fill out and sign. Once Ron was finished, he left Smarty-Mart in good graces, with Rufus residing in his pocket.

Arriving at the school, he saw a small amount of people inside and outside, looks pretty barren… meaning class isn't starting yet. Throwing his cup of green tea in the trash, his eyes darted towards a certain female.

Monique was there, walking into the entrance of the gym. Maybe it'd be time to make amends as he probably wanted to do in the first place. Being the ninja that he was… he desired to do this quietly. He didn't want to have Monique escape the area and he didn't want to spook her either. Seeing the door in front of him, he took his backpack from his shoulders and Rufus from his pocket. He opened the zipper upfront and placed him inside, leaving it open.

"I need you to stay here and hide for a little while bud. I'll be back soon, ok?" With that Rufus hid inside the bag, peeking out to watch whatever show that was going to unravel. He set the bag on one of the bleachers. He then walked up to her, before he could take another step, she spoke to him.

"I've been friends with Kim for a long time, you think I wouldn't be aware of stuff like this?" She said. It took Ron by surprise, he had to give her credit.

Ron sighed. "You… ah… you led me here, huh?" His eyes darted from side to side as he rocked his body back and forth.

"I was lucky to see you get to the school, if I didn't, you'd give me a scare." She commented. She sat down on the bleachers in front of him… patting the space next to her. Monique wants Ron to sit with her, an odd feeling. Ron did as she wanted him to do.

They sat for a bit with an awkward silence. Both of them wanted to break that, but wondered how to go about it.

"There's been a lot of stuff left unsaid." Monique began. "I mean after last night, you just ghosted."

"I mean, I told you something you really shouldn't know about me. Look I… I'm not evil, I just… can't stand by anymore." He lamented, folding his hands.

Monique raised her hand, wanting to place it on his shoulder… yet she hesitated. What kind of response would it merit from him? "I get that when something isn't right, we want to change it… but why not do it the right way, fight alongside Kim, she'll definitely like you as a partner. I mean don't get me wrong, but going to Japan as a kid and coming back as a ninja… I've seen everything now. "

"Yeah well that's the thing… I don't care if it's right or not… I want it to be permanent. Look, Kim she… she's done this for years right… but nothing's changed. What I did…" He paused for a moment, thinking of his actions prior. "Did you know one of the guys I went after was kidnapping and selling girls… another was running protection rackets and extorting good people for their money?"

Monique paused at this, she didn't necessarily read into the news that much, normally it's just music videos, fashion and those reality shows about teens. But there were times where she took a peek at what was happening, sometimes on her phone or on the front cover of a newspaper. She really didn't know much and Ron picked that up in a snap.

"Yeah." He mumbled. "I'm sorry… that you had to… hear all this stuff from me like that. I want you to know that, even if I didn't want it… being with you, Felix, even Kim… I couldn't fake it… even if I tried."

Monique didn't see a killer, but rather a wounded boy around her age with a lot of baggage and conflict in him. Normally, she'd try to keep her distance… thinking that he'd be trouble. But he wasn't… I mean Kim was a hero too… and she got into danger almost on a daily basis. One thing she knew for certain…

There was still some good in him. Even if it's covered with apathy and bloodlust. She then made a gesture.

Her hand touched Ron's, they both looked each other straight in the eyes. Monique lightly smiled, with Ron madly blushing. His eyes would dart away, but it took a good amount of willpower to look at her without being flustered.

He smiled back at her… thanking her gesture. Before any more could be said, the gym doors opened to another person.

"Monique, you have to get away from him!" They both looked to see a redhead filled with concern for her friend, and frustration for a blonde ninja.

* * *

 **Hi everyone, it's me again. Sorry for the wait, but a lot of things are happening back where I'm at. College graduation is happening soon & there's a chance where I might go back and get a Master's Degree; my final semester and all that left me worried. But thank you everyone for… reading and reviewing the story, it honestly keeps me going with this. I'm trying to make sure that I'll upload more, but I hit a block when it came down to this chapter, so I'm hoping maybe the next will come sooner. **

**Thanks everyone, I'll make sure to update soon.**


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